[CPM-SPIRE-L] the ultimate Raconteur
Amihood Amir
amir at esc.biu.ac.il
Wed Jul 22 03:54:38 PDT 2015
Dear Friends,
I was not surprised to see that most of the messages stressed Alberto's
unique personality.
Alberto was a scientist who contributed some seminal insights to pattern
matching, for example the Augmented Suffix Tree, parallel algorithms for
Stringology, or the study of quasiperiodicity. He was also one of the
founders of our community.
Nevertheless, what everyone remembered and reminded was his generous
personality: generous to students and colleagues, generous to the field and
to the founding of other fields. Computational Biology started at the
pattern matching community, and Alberto always wanted to encourage growth
and collaboration with others. We all know of research areas where one
needs to constantly walk with one's back to the wall, lest he be stabbed in
the back by a colleague. Pattern Matching is the opposite of that! My wife,
who joined us this year for CPM, and who is used to medical conferences,
remarked with amazement at what a great atmosphere there was at the
conference! Friends, this is clearly a result of the years of personal
example shown by Alberto. We all grew up soaking that kind of behavior, and
we all emulate it.
About 1700 years ago, a rabbi came from Israel to Babylonia. He was asked
to teach some new insight about the Torah. He started out by saying: "Jacob
the Patriarch did not die!". You have to understand that there was an
inherent difference in the way the Talmud was studied in Israel and the way
it was studied in Babylonia. In Israel the study was more allegorical
whereas the Babylonians were more technical and literal. Thus, when this
famous rabbi from Israel proclaimed that Jacob the Patriarch did not die,
the Babylonians immediately asked him: "it says in the Bible that Jacob was
mummified, and interned - did they mummify him for nought? Did they bury
him for no reason?". So the Israeli rabbi explained to them what he meant:
"As long as his descendents are alive - he is alive".
As long as there is a string to be matched, a periodicity to be recognized,
a genome to be sequenced, an LCS to be computed - Alberto is alive. As long
as we meet, help our colleagues, support the junior researchers, teach the
students with love and care - Alberto is with us.
And now for a more practical proposition.
Another trait of Alberto that has been mentioned is that he was not a
narrowly focused scientist but a true intellectual. It was always a
pleasure to discuss with him all topics - from art to literature, music,
and philosophy. All this was well packaged in the mind of an orator. It was
a pleasure to hear Alberto discuss a topic, not only for the insights, but
also for the presentation. While some people with such talents are pompous,
Alberto was easygoing and fun. He could use his oratorial skills for any
topic, and the famous stories that grew from this talent are witness.
I propose, in Alberto's honor, that we collect the *Apostolic Tales* for
posterity.
I will start and recount a few such tales. I encourage everyone to add
stories they remember. I will try to collect and edit them all.
Below are two famous stories that come to mind:
*The Mormon Conversion*
While attending a conference in Salt Lake City, Alberto had a free
afternoon and went to visit the great Mormon Temple.
He was assigned a dutiful young guide who showed him around and expounded
the basics of the Mormon faith.
At the end of the visit his guide asked him if he would consider converting
to Mormon.
Alberto's response, to the best of my recollection, was:
"Young lady. You were indeed very eloquent. Your explanations were
faultless and one can not deny the cogency of your arguments.
However, I carry a heavy mantle of historical duty. As you can see, my name
is Apostolico, with all that it implies. You can easily imagine the
consternation of the leaders and fathers of the Church, if I converted to
Mormonism. In fact, I don't doubt that the disappointment of the Pope
himself would be immense. Thus, it should not be taken personally by you
that, notwithstanding your excellent exposition, I shall need to decline
your generous offer to join the Mormon faith".
<try to imagine Alberto saying the above sentence, and you will be, if only
for a brief moment, back in his presence.>
*A Kosher Experience*
The late Renato Capocelli is still remembered by us for the lavish dinners
in the meetings he organized.
On one of the first such meetings, he invited Aviezri Fraenkel.
Alberto prepared Renato in advance for the fact that Aviezri only eats
kosher food, and told him to not take it personally, but he has religious
restrictions and will not be partaking in the banquet.
Renato heard, and agreed, but such heresy could not penetrate deeply into
his psyche.
Throughout the meal he tried to contain himself but, as time went on, as
everyone was getting happier and fuller, and all this while Aviezri was
just eating his tomato and cucumber, the superego was burst and Renato
reverted to his gregarious hospitable self. "Avitsri", he said (Renato
never mastered the pronunciation of Aviezri's name) "try this food, it is
very good!". Aviezri, with his quiet smile declined, saying he is assured
it is good but, unfortunately, he can not eat it. This calmed Renato for a
minute only. A moment later, he exclaimed: "Atsivri - you must try this, it
is excellent!!!". Again Aviezri quietly and politely declined. Finally,
Renato could not take it any longer. He speared some morsel with his fork,
grabbed Aviezri by his shoulders and waved the fork back and forth in front
of Aviezri's face and toward his mouth crying with exasperation: "Azviri -
eat, eat, THIS IS MARVELOUS!"
It will be great if you could all share the immortal stories you remember.
As I said, I will do my best to edit and collect them.
With sorrow for what was lost and can not be found again,
-- Ami
On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 1:25 AM, Raffaele Giancarlo <
raffaele.giancarlo at unipa.it> wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> this is a message from an undergraduate at University of Salerno. I
> met Professor Apostolico in November 1978.
> He was teaching a first year course in the Computer Science Curriculum
> at Unisa: Teoria e Applicazioni delle Macchine Calcolatrici. It became
> immediately clear to all of the student body that Professor
> Apostolico was very special. Indeed, over the next few years, in
> addition to this new thing of pattern matching and compression
> algorithms, his storytelling was a strong magnet for many of us.
>
> As many of you in this list, I had the privilege to listen to his
> stories, work with him, even meet during Christmas vacations for a
> chat in Salerno. For many many years.
>
> The last story comes from Lipari. It is short chronicle. After CPM in
> Ischia, an island that he was very close to, he sailed for a couple
> of weeks the Eolian Islands, with friends and family.
> He went from Salerno to Maratea, then crossed to Stromboli. Finally,
> he got to Lipari for the school. When I saw his boat docking in the
> harbor my undergraduate hearth started beating very fast: more
> stories, more fun and more things to do.
>
> More Alberto!!!.
>
> I called him up immediately.
>
> Unfortunately, last night, this came to an end and I went through
> moments that I do not wish to anyone.
>
> I feel a void, but thanks to you this undergraduate does not feel
> lonely tonight.
>
>
> I can still see Obliqua docked, so the only thing that I can say is:
>
> Buon Vento Alberto.
>
> raffaele
>
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--
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Amihood Amir Tel.
(03)531-8770
Professor of Computer Science Fax (03)738-4056
Bar Ilan University Secr. (03) 736-0497
52900 Ramat-Gan Email amir at cs.biu.ac.il
and url: http://www.cs.biu.ac.il
Johns Hopkins
University 1
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