[CPM-SPIRE-L] the ultimate Raconteur
Simona Rombo
simonaester.rombo at unipa.it
Thu Jul 23 09:40:28 PDT 2015
I met Professor Apostolico for the first time in 2004, at the Lipari
School. I was a doctoral student at that time, and I had the great
chance to visit him at Purdue that year, starting a collaboration which
continued in the following years.
I am shocked and deeply saddened by what happened. I still cannot
believe it.
I would like to contribute to the collection of tales, in my own little,
with a nice memory that he recounted the last time I have saw him, again
at the Lipari School, in 2013.
_Gastone and the boating licence_
The story started to be told because Professor Apostolico said that he
had renewed his boat licence recently. Then, he started to remember when
he was an undergraduate student and he used to repeat several times the
notions he was studying, before giving examinations. Often he used to
repeat in front of one of his friends, Gastone, who was attending his
same classes. Now, Professor Apostolico was much curious not only about
the technical matters of what he was studying, but also about historical
anecdotes related to those matters, which he usually recounted to
Gastone as well. And Gastone was very good at memorizing what he had
listened. So, you can imagine how much the teachers were impressed when
Gastone answered questions they posed, starting from historical tales
colorfully recounted. Too bad that, as it came to the more technical
issues, the memories of Gastone were more and more blurred. But anyway,
how a great success passing the examination without reading a book! The
best of the tale comes when Gastone told to Alberto that he had decided
to get a boating licence. Luckily for sailors and seafarers, in that
case the usual approach was not successfull, since in addition to the
theoretic test, there was also the practical one.
Simona
Il 22/07/2015 12:54, Amihood Amir ha scritto:
> 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 <mailto: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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>
>
>
> --
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 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
> <mailto:amir at cs.biu.ac.il>
> and url: http://www.cs.biu.ac.il
> <http://www.cs.biu.ac.il/>
> Johns Hopkins University 1
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
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--
---------------------------------------------------
Simona E. Rombo
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Università degli Studi di Palermo (Palermo, Italy)
90123 Palermo, via Archirafi 34
Tel: +39 091 238 91028
Email: simona.rombo at math.unipa.it
http://math.unipa.it/rombo/index.html
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