From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of toyin adepoju [toyin.adepoju@googlemail.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 8:33 AM
To: usaafricadialogue; naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com; nigerianworldforum; Nidoa
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MY INVESTIGATION OF THE CLAIMS OF PHILIP EMEAGWALI:PRELIMINARY REPORT 1
MY INVESTIGATION OF THE CLAIMS OF PHILIP EMEAGWALI
PRELIMINARY REPORT 1
Toyin Adepoju
Framework: Facts and Interpretations
I understand the controversy over the achievements of the Nigerian scientist Philip Emeagwali to consist of two major groups of questions.These questions are represented by one group I understand as questions of factuality and another I understand as questions of interpretation.
Questions of factuality consist of questions as to whether or not an action took place.Questions of interpretation relate to questions as to the significance of actions established to have taken place.
The questions of factuality here consist in
Did Philip Emeagwali undertake any research in computing?
If he did,at what periods of his life did he do this?
What are the specific processes undergone by Emeagwali in his computing research?
What did Emeagwali achieve in the course of this research?
What use has been made of and references made to Emeagwali's computing achievements by industry, academia and other sources of scholarship?
Does Emeagwali have any patents?
Questions of interpretation involve understanding of the significance of Emeagwali's achievement/s.Do they qualify him to be known as father or one of the fathers of the Internet as is often claimed for him?
My present findings have been reached purely through the use of documents on the Internet and are not significantly different from some other assessments of his work, particularly the Wikipedia essay on him which I understand as the most balanced presentation of his work I have read so far.
I expect to come very soon to a significant degree of conclusion about more facts and move closer to conclusions on the interpretations .
Progress
I have been able to establish one fact that it is already well known.I have been able to establish to the best of my ability another fact that was not so well known.
I am investigating a third claim in the hope of arriving at a factual understanding.
I am still investigating the conclusions drawn by Emeagwali and his supporters from the well known fact I have established.
Structure
I have organised my progress so far in terms of
1.Facts
1a.The Gordon Bell Prize
Sources
1991 University of Michigan newspaper
Links at the IEEE, International Society of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Wikipedia Copy of the Report of the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize
Microsoft Microsoft Historical Essay
1b.Patents
Links
1991 University of Michigan newspaper
Links at the IEEE, International Society of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Attachments
Wikipedia Copy of the Report of the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize
IEEE magazine with Emeagwali's picture
Facts
The Gordon Bell Prize for 1989
I have established the well known fact that Philip Emeagwali won the Gordon Bell Prize for computing in 1989. From what I have understood of this so far,Emeagwali was awarded this prize for his achievement in a computation that performed a massive number of calculations that facilitated complex problems in prospecting for oil. This is a somewhat crude method of describing what the document that is almost certainly the report of the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize describes as a very creative and subtle approach to a complex problem in oil prospecting.
Sources
1991 University of Michigan newspaper
The evidence I have for this conclusion about his winning the price and the work he did to win it comes from a report on his work in a University of Michigan newspaper in 1991 at the archives of the university, where he was a graduate student when he won the prize in 1989 .I have tried to find my own sources for the claims I am investigating but could not find any other that supported the Gordon Bell Prize win.
Links at the IEEE, International Society of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The links that refer to the 1989 Godon Bell prize at the site of the International Society of Electrical and Electronics Engineers proved impossible to open.What I could see of their contents, however, support the claim about the win and the content of the research that enabled that win: "for his work on oil-reservoir simulation".
Wikipedia Copy of the Report of the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize by the Judges of the Prize, Almost Certainly from IEEE
This the documents and summation of his work at the Wikipedia entry on Emeagwali one of which is document described as the report of the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize by the judges of the prize corroborate the reports of his having won the prize.A detailed description of the challenges he addressed,the methods he used and the work of the other thee groups of leading contests are discussed in detail.
I have tried to get a copy of this document from the site of the journal using an institutional account but the article is not present when I get to the site.
Links to the article on the IEEE site,however,list the article as present in that journal.
Microsoft Historical Essay
Having searched the information technology companies best known to me,being Apple,Microsoft,Sun Microsystems,Google and IBM, I found one reference to his name,from Microsoft, the essay "Crabby Celebrates Black History Month" which substantiates the claim that Emeagwali won the prize.
Problems with the Microsoft Historical Essay
The Microsoft historical essay makes some claims that seem to contradict other accounts of Emeagwali's work. It also makes assertions of the impact of the work that require close investigation to verify since they seem to contradict the virtual blackout on Emeagwali's name in industry and academic sources.
The report's complete credibility is also suspect to me because it does not seem to be a statement demonstrating company recognition of a contributor in a field to which the company owes its existence but a recognition of Black achievers in science for the sake of Black history month, laudable as that is, up to a point.
The only sources referred to are journalistic sources and not even specialized science journalism,former US President Bill Clinton and an interview of Emeagwali. There is no scientist quoted or referred to nor is there any statement from Microsoft describing the impact of Emeagwali's work on the systems used by the company or any others in the industry.
Patents
I have not been able to find any evidence that Philip Emeagwali has any patents.This corresponds to the findings of other investigators, who like me,have searched the records of the US Patent office for his name without success.
Interpretation of the Significance of the Emeagwali's Achievement that Won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize
One person, a graduate student, winning against two teams of professional scientists from three research facilities and another team of two researchers
It is important to note that in the report on the 1989 Gordon Bell prize Emeagwali is described as measured against three teams while he is described as working alone. The team that also won a prize,but in in another category,was composed of eight scientists from two scientific establishments. Even though they are described as achieving a computation at a faster speed than Emeagwali. That, to me is offset by the fact he was one person, and a graduate student, against eight industry professionals.
The other teams Emeagwali superseded to collect the prize were a team of three researchers from the University of Texas and another team of two researchers from Brown University and the Institute for Defense Analyses Supercomputing Research Centre.
The Wikipedia Copy of the Report of the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize states:
"In the performance category we awarded the prize to a team from Mobil Research and Development and Thinking Machines Corp. The team members are Mark Bromley,Harold Huschman,Alan Edelamn,Bob Lordi,Jacek Myczkowski,and Alex Valievsky of TMC and Doung McCowan and Irshad Mufti of Mobil Resreach.
Their solution of a seismic data-processing problem ran at almost 6 flops on a CM-2 Connection Machine. Not only does this computation rate exceed that of last year's winner by six times, it is almost twice the peak speed of the Cray Y-MP/8!
We awarded the price/performance prize to Philip Emeagwali of the Civil Engineering Department and Scientific Computing Program at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.He also used a CM-2 to solve an oil-reservoir-modelling problem.His model ran at a price/performance of slightly less than 400 Mflops per $1 million. While the Mobil/TMC team achieved almost 500 Mflops per $1 million,we decided to award only one prize per entry."
Creative and computational power in creating a solution to a complex problem in oil prospecting using the CM-2
Foundational to this achievement is the programming of the complex CM-2 in relation to simulating oil reservoirs to develop more cost effective and efficient methods of extracting oil. The report describes in sublime technical prose the mathematical work required to achieve this using the method Emeagwali employed:
"Reservoir-modelling equations are extremely challenging. The simulations must follow many constituents, like water, methane,and liquid hydrocarbons; the equations are highly nonlinear, resulting in steep discontinuities in the solution; the underlying geometry is complicated by irregularities in the rock's boundaries and flow properties; and realistic results normally require following the flow in three dimensions".
To be continued
Also blogged at Cognitive Diary
--You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
"The information in this email and any attachments may be confidential and privileged. Access to this email by anyone other than the intended addressee is unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient (or the employee or agent responsible for delivering this information to the intended recipient) please notify the sender by reply email and immediately delete this email and any copies from your computer and/or storage system. The sender does not authorize the use, distribution, disclosure or reproduction of this email (or any part of its contents) by anyone other than the intended recipient(s).
No representation is made that this email and any attachments are free of viruses. Virus scanning is recommended and is the responsibility of the recipient."
No comments:
Post a Comment