[CPM-SPIRE-L] the ultimate Raconteur
Arlindo Oliveira
arlindo.oliveira at cg.ist.utl.pt
Thu Jul 23 16:10:39 PDT 2015
On 23-07-2015 23:42, Nivio Ziviani wrote:
> I first met Alberto in 1995 at the second Spire in Valparaiso, Chile.
> He loved old furniture and he new a restaurer in Cerea, near Verona,
> named Silverio Ziviani. He gave his card (attached), which gave me the
> opportunity of finding out precious information about my relatives in
> Italy. My grandgrandfather came from Veneto around 1870 and we did now
> were he came from. I went to Cerea and discovery the place my
> grandgrandfather came from, was able to search and recover his
> birthday registration in Cerea. I now have an Italian citizenship
> thanks to Alberto.
>
> Alberto hosted Spire 2004 in Padova and invited some of us to his
> house, where he was very proud to show a very old furniture that he
> exchanged by his BMW!
Actually, I remember very vividly this particular event. Alberto pointed
to an classic dresser
he had on one of the rooms and said: Do you see that dresser? It used to
be a BMW!
Surprised, we asked how that singular transformation took place. He then
clarified that he had crashed a BMW
in an accident, a car that he shouldn't have bought in the first place,
and that with the insurance
money he decided to buy that dresser, that was a much better and much
safer investment!
I will miss Alberto deeply.
Best
Arlindo
>
> It is a great miss for all us.
>
> Regards,
> Nivio
> --
> Nivio Ziviani
> Professor Emeritus in Computer Science
> Department of Computer Science
> Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
> www.dcc.ufmg.br/~nivio/en/
> nivio.ziviani | skype
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 7:54 AM, Amihood Amir <amir at esc.biu.ac.il> wrote:
>> 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
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> CPM-SPIRE-L mailing list
>>> CPM-SPIRE-L at lists.cs.ucr.edu
>>> https://fenris.cs.ucr.edu/mailman/listinfo/cpm-spire-l
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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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>>
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--
----------------------------------------------------
Arlindo Oliveira
Presidente
Instituto Superior Técnico
Tel: +351-218417332
Fax: +351-218470858
Email: arlindo.oliveira at cg.ist.utl.pt
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