1954 | Breathed his first air in late afternoon Monday August 23, 1954 in a hospital in Akure in then British West African colony of Nigeria. |
1964 | Recognized (by St. John's School, Agbor) as hometown's calculating prodigy, the fastest human computer. |
1965 | Recognized (by Common Entrance Examiners) as a math prodigy. |
1970 | Nicknamed "Calculus" at age 15 for his precocity and after his 568-page book on "infinitesimal calculus" and his "calculo analog computer." |
1972 | Mentioned in the science column of the Daily Times of Nigeria at age 17. |
1973 | Won a scholarship to the United States through word-of-mouth recommendation. |
1974 | Began 17 years of full time university studies on various scholarships and fellowships (March 24). |
1974 | Conceived hyperball network of 64,000 computers around the world, now called an internet. |
1974 | First newspaper interview in Oregon, United States at age 19. |
1980s | Delivered progress-report lectures on his 16-year constructive program-to-practice of his hyperball to hypercube internet. |
1989 | emeagwali.com becomes first personal website, with "First Use" date of June 22, 1989 |
1989 | The first and only lone and solitary programmer to program sixteen supercomputers, each powered by up to two-to-power sixteen computers. |
1989 | Won Gordon Bell Prize, the highest honor in supercomputing. |
1990 | Garnered international headlines for solving one of the 20 most difficult problems in computing |
1991 | Scientist of the Year, National Society of Black Engineers |
1993 | Computer Scientist of the Year, National Technical Association |
1993 | IEEE Distinguished Supercomputer Visitor |
1995 | ACM Distinguished Supercomputer Lecturer |
1995 | Pioneer of the Year, National Society of Black Engineers |
1996 | 50th anniversary tributes to the Fathers of the Computer |
1996 | Voted Essence magazine's ten most beautiful men (June 1996) |
1996 | America's Best & Brightest, Dollars & Sense magazine |
1996 | Distinguished Eagle Achievement Award, Nigerian Eagles Society |
1996 | Nigerian Achiever of the Year, Network Africa |
1998 | Distinguished Scientist Award, World Bank & IMF |
1999 | 100 Greatest Nigerians of all time (Internet survey) |
1999 | Influencers and Innovators of the Internet, MOBE |
1999 | Pioneer of the Internet, History of the Internet |
1999 | 100 Years of Black Achievement, Ebony magazine (December 1999) |
2000 | Gallery of Prominent Refugees, United Nations |
2001 | Who's Who in 20th Century America |
2001 | Best Scientist in Africa, Pan African Broadcasting, Heritage and Achievement Awards |
2002 | 100 Most Influential Blacks in America, Savoy magazine, Jun. '02 and Aug. '03 |
2002 | The Eagle Award (London) |
2002 | Africa's Most Famous Scientist (best-known Africans of all time) |
2003 | Extolled by the United States Congress for contributions to humanity. |
2003 | World's Most Searched-For Scientist |
2003 | Second Most Searched-For Nigerian |
2003 | Eighth Most Searched-For African |
2004 | Ranked history's #1 scientist of African descent. |
2004 | Voted History's 35th Greatest African |
2005 | Doctor of Science honoris causa |
2005 | "Round of Applause" for The Father of the Internet, House of Representatives, Illinois |
2005 | Voted African of the Year |
2005 | Toyota Salutes Emeagwali for helping "us all move forward ... to the age of information" in hundreds of magazines and radio stations. |
2006 | Two postage stamps honor Emeagwali as a "supercomputer genius." |
2007 | Commonwealth of Virginia extolled the creative genius and contributions of ... Philip Emeagwali. |
2007 | Proclamation of April 18 as Philip Emeagwali Day in City of Lansing, Michigan. |
2007 | Resolution recognizing "A Father of the Internet," City of East Lansing a.k.a. "Home of Michigan State University." |
2007 | Special Tribute in Michigan House of Representatives for "tremendous impact on the state of Michigan." |
2007 | Award from Governor of Michigan for "tireless contributions" to Michigan. |
2007 | History's 70 Greatest Black Achievers. |
2007 | "Unsung Hero" Behind the Internet, TIME magazine. |
2008 | "Eight Africans You Should Know," Ebony magazine. |
2008 | emeagwali.com recognized as well-known trademark. |
2009 | Headlined Kshitij (Asia's largest techno-management festival) as the "Father of Supercomputer" |
2009 | Emeagwali named in stamps, schools, streets, sci-fi and songs. |
2009 | Emeagwali Conference: First biennial science festival. |
2009 | Exam Syllabi: Featured in national exams (e.g. essay portion of Sept' 09 U.S. Law School Admission Test) |
2009 | Inventors & Trailblazers: Ask your public librarian for books. |
2009 | Voted top 20 Living Legends in Nigeria in poll by Vanguard newspaper and STV television. |
2010 | Emeagwali Prize: A newly instituted award honoring African scientists. |
2011 | Emeagwali Conference: Biennial technology festival. |
2012 | Ten Highest IQs in History. |
2012 | Google Most-Searched: black scientist and inventor |
2012 | Google Most-Searched: For "Nigerian Father ...." |
2012 | Google Most-Searched: For "African Father ...." |
2012 | Google Most-Searched: For "Father of the Internet." |
2012 | Google Most-Searched: For contributions to the development of the computer. |
2012 | Google Most-Searched: For "Father of Supercomputer." |
The above hyperball network was invented by Emeagwali. Although it was originally inspired and designed as an international network of computers for forecasting the weather for the whole Earth it is, in many ways, similar to what we now call the Internet. In its early years, the Internet was a planar network covering parts of the United States. It has now converged to a hyperball "world wide" network covering the entire Earth.
In the 1990s, the vector supercomputer was reinvented as a hypercube supercomputer. In a few decades, the computer
will "disappear" into the Internet and, in essence, converge to a hyperball-shaped computing and communicating device. Then we will say that the supercomputer is the network, or that the hyperball network is the computer, or that the hyperball network is the Internet.
Many books on the History of the Internet called
Emeagwali a supercomputer and Internet pioneer.
More info: biography, blogs, articles, pictures, and photo essay.
COMMENCEMENT ORATION
Son of Africa,
Click on emeagwali.com for more information.
- for Philip Emeagwali
(June 2005)
supercomputer pioneer,
a visionary father of the Internet,
we honor you.
We heed Kwame Nkrumah’s warning that,
“socialism without science is void”
in honoring you
for crowning Africa
with shining scientific discoveries.
Nnamdi Azikiwe said,
“Originality is the essence
of true scholarship.
Creativity is the soul
of the true scholar.”
You exemplify both.
You discovered a formula
that enables computers
powered by 65,000 subcomputers
to work as one supercomputer
that performs
the world’s fastest calculations.
Your discoveries
inspired the reinvention
of supercomputers,
as part computer and part internet
as a union
of 65,000 subcomputers
computing and communicating by email.
You theorized
that 65,000 computers
around the Earth
could work as one
to forecast the weather.
This theoretical supercomputer,
with 65,000 nodes,
is known today as the Internet.
For your bold theory,
the book History of the Internet,
CNN and TIME magazine have called you
“a father of the Internet.”
You solved
the most difficult problem
in supercomputing
by reformulating
Newton’s Second Law of Motion
as 18 equations and algorithms,
then as 24 million algebraic equations;
finally
you programmed
65,000 subcomputers
to send 65,000 emails, work as one and solve
those 24 million equations
at a speed
of 3.1 billion calculations per second.
Your 65,000 subcomputers,
24 million equations
and 3.1 billion calculations
were three world records,
garnered international headlines,
made mathematicians rejoice,
and caused your fellow Africans
to beam with pride.
Your discovery that
65,000 subcomputers
could work as a supercomputer and an internet
is foundational knowledge
that gave rise to the
ten billion dollar a year
supercomputer industry
and paved the way
to solving problems
that were once thought
to be unsolvable
and improved life
for millions.
A poll by the London-based
New African magazine
ranked you as
history's greatest scientist
of African descent.
After you won
the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize,
the Nobel Prize of supercomputing,
President Bill Clinton called you
“one of the great minds of the Information Age,”
as well as "the Bill Gates of Africa"
and referred to
computer geniuses as
"another Emeagwali."
By expanding
the limits of computing,
you helped us all
move forward
into the age of information.
Mr. Chancellor,
for his groundbreaking discoveries
and for the sheer force of his mind,
I ask you
to confer
the degree of Doctor of Science,
honoris causa,
upon PHILIP EMEAGWALI.