Prof. Dr. Joseph Weizenbaum

Berlin

Biography: Joseph Weizenbaum was born of Jewish parents on January 8, 1923 in Berlin, Germany. He received his early education there. He matriculated in Berlin's Luisenstaedtisches Realgymansium in 1934 but was dismissed after two semesters in consequence of the newly enacted "racial laws". In 1936 his family emigrated to the United States of America. He began his university studies at Wayne University in Detroit, Michigan in 1941 but left the university in 1942 to serve in the United States Army Air Corps. He was honorably discharged in 1946 and then resumed his studies in mathematics. While a research assistant in the university's mathematics department, Weizenbaum helped design, build and operate a, for that time large, digital computer. He completed his studies in mathematics in 1952 but concentrated on computers for the rest of his professional life. There followed a stint in industry ending with a eight year period with the General Electric Company where he was responsible for the hardware-software integration of a pioneering computer project for the Bank of America, then the largest American bank.. In 1963 Weizenbaum was called to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where, in addition to his teaching duties, he was to participate in another pioneering effort: the design and implementation of the first large time-sharing system for computers. The first computer network, the so-called ARPA net, was in part a product of that research and the original model for today's Internet. Prof. Weizenbaum's research turned to "conversational" computing. While in that mode, he produced the ELIZA program which, though primitive by current standards, made communication with the computer in natural language possible. After twenty-five years of service at MIT, Professor Weizenbaum retired and was appointed Professor Emeritus and Senior Lecturer at the Institute. During his active university career, Prof. Weizenbaum wrote, in addition to many papers for the professional journals, "Computer Power and Human Reason", a book that was translated into at least ten languages and serves, over twenty years after its original publication, as required reading in most serious university computer science (Informatiks) curricula. He was a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, California (1972-1973), a Vinton Hayes Research Scholar at Harvard University (1973-1974) and a visiting professor at many universities, among them the Technical University of Berlin, The Harvard Graduate School of Education and the University of Hamburg. Prizes: He was recently a visiting Professor of Informatik at the University of Bremen. Among his honors are the Doctor of Science Degree, h.c. from the State University of New York, and a Doctor of Humane Letters, h.c. from Daniel Webster College of New Hampshire, as well as an honorary doctorate from the University of Bremen. He is the recipient of the Norbert Wiener Prize awarded by the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (USA) and the Namour Prize of the International Federation of Information Societies for his work on societal aspects of the computer revolution, as well as a prize for "lifetime achievement" from FIFF (Informatiker fuer Frieden und soziale Verantwortung). He received a Humboldt Prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany) which allowed him to be a resident at the Albert-Ludwigs-University at Freiburg during the year 1994 to 1995. Publications in German (selection): Die Macht der Computer und die Ohnmacht der Vernunft (Suhrkamp) Kurs auf Den Eisberg (Piper) Sind die Computer Bessere Menschen? (Piper) Wer Erfindet die Computermythen mit Gunna Wendt (Herder).   Events with Prof. Dr. Joseph Weizenbaum Download/s:   Round-table: To be inter or not to be active, that is the Question (Audio/German)