Honorary Degree of Doctor of Informatics (honoris causa)

On 15th October 2004, in occasion of the XVth anniversary of the setting up of the first degree courses in “Informatica” at the “Sapienza” University of Rome, an Honorary Degree in “Informatica” was awarded to Andrea Viterbi, one of the leading figures of the new science which emerged from the fusion of computing and telecommunications. Viterbi is both a scientist and an entrepreneur and is considered one of the founding fathers of the digital revolution. He was the creator of the eponymous algorithm upon which the functioning of hundreds of millions of cell phones throughout the world is based. Today, the Viterbi Algorithm (a computing procedure for reconstructing signals which are subject to error) is used in several vital fields, such as voice recognition, DNA sequencing and the transmission of data over interplanetary distances. Viterbi was co-founder of Qualcomm (producer of Eudora, one of most widely.used email programs). Speakers at the Award ceremony included Professor Giuseppe D'Ascenzo, Rector of the “Sapienza” University of Rome, Professor Francesco Bossa, Dean of the Faculty of Science (Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences – Sc.M.F.N.), and Professor Rossella Petreschi, Head of the “Dipartimento di Informatica”, who had proposed the award of the Honorary Degree.

 

Press review

rassegna stampa rassegna stampa rassegna stampa rassegna stampa

 

Honorary Degree of Doctor of Informatics - Speeches