[CPM-SPIRE-L] the ultimate Raconteur
Ricardo Baeza-Yates
ricardo.baeza at upf.edu
Fri Jul 24 01:14:21 PDT 2015
I do remember the BMW story too, this was the day of the dinner with the great ice cream
Missing him
Ric
(excuse brevity and spelling)
> On 24 Jul 2015, at 01:10, Arlindo Oliveira <arlindo.oliveira at cg.ist.utl.pt> wrote:
>
>> 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
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> 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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