Postage Stamps

Honor

Supercomputer Genius

(Also: Banker Wants Emeagwali on Nigerian Money)

For earning a spot in the history of computing, the Nigerian postal service has issued a commemorative set of stamps in 50-naira (US$0.39) and 150-naira (US$1.17) denominations. The stamps were entitled “Supercomputer Genius,” with each bearing the name and likeness of Philip Emeagwali, and a portion of his 18 mathematical equations and computer algorithms.

First Day of Issue

Both stamps went on sale on January 18, 2006, at the dedication and the “First Day of Issue” ceremony in Abuja, Nigeria. The ceremony was chaired by former Nigerian head of state Yakubu Gowon.

The Postmaster-General described these commemorative postage stamps in recognition of the importance of science and technology as an engine for economic growth. The timeline of the history of science roughly corresponds to the leading discoverers and their discoveries. Without records, there is no history and without commemorative stamps, a people’s contributions would be lost forever, the Postmaster-General explained.

Banker Wants Emeagwali on Nigerian Money

Two years earlier, the Central Bank of Nigeria conducted a survey of Nigerians, asking whom it should depict on its proposed thousand-naira (US$7) currency note, shown below. One of the people topping the list was Philip Emeagwali. Worldwide, about one hundred scientists have been featured on currencies and it was suggested that Nigeria should also feature a scientific hero.

Emeagwali was nominated by a top economist at the

Central Bank of Nigeria for depiction on this currency.

Isaac Newton on the British pound.

Physicist Albert Einstein is honored on Israeli five pound currency

Scientist and inventor Benjamin Franklin is honored on the 100 dollar currency

Galileo Gallilei - Italian 2000 Lire

Who Is Philip Emeagwali?

Philip Emeagwali — war survivor, scientific innovator, and according to readers of London-based New African magazine, history’s 35th greatest person of African descent — has been described by President Bill Clinton as “one of the great minds of the Information Age,” as well as “the Bill Gates of Africa.” Various polls rank him as the world’s number one black scientist.

Born on August 23, 1954 in the British West African colony of Nigeria, Emeagwali was among the two million Igbos who fled persecution during the country’s 30-month civil war, to the safety of Biafran refugee camps. One million people out of 15 million died during this war.

Philip Emeagwali in Maryland, United States (October 2005)

Emeagwali, who was conscripted into the Biafran army at the age 14, immigrated on March 24, 1974 to the state of Oregon in the United States; he was 19 years old. Fifteen years later, Emeagwali achieved fame. His record-breaking calculations garnered international headlines and inspired the reinvention of the supercomputer — technology that gave rise to the Internet. 

He solved the most difficult problem in supercomputing by reformulating Newton’s Second Law of Motion — first as 18 equations and algorithms, then as 24 million algebraic equations, after which he programmed 65,000 “electronic brains” called “processors” to work as an integrated whole supercomputer.

That unconventional supercomputer solved those 24 million equations at a speed of 3.1 billion calculations per second — a world record that garnered international headlines, caused rejoicing among mathematicians, re-defined the word “supercomputer,” and earned him the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, the Nobel Prize of supercomputing.

Philip Emeagwali in Maryland, United States (October 2006)

FACT SHEET

NG004.06

Country/Post	Nigeria
Date of Issue	18 January 2006
Primary Theme	Science & Technology (Information Technology)
Subject	Supercomputer Genius – Philip Emeagwali
Width	24.5 mm
Height	40 mm
Denomination	50 NGN
Number in Set	2
Layout/Format	Sheet of 50
Perforations	13 x 13
Stamp-Issuing Authority	Nigerian Postal Service
Printer	Nigerian Security Printing & Minting Co Ltd

NG009.06

Country/Post	Nigeria
Date of Issue	18 January 2006
Primary Theme	Science & Technology (Information Technology)
Subject	Supercomputer Genius – Philip Emeagwali
Width	24.5 mm
Height	40 mm
Denomination	150 NGN
Number in Set	2
Layout/Format	Sheet of 50
Perforations	13 x 13
Stamp-Issuing Authority	Nigerian Postal Service
Printer	Nigerian Security Printing & Minting Co Ltd

Date of Release	January 18, 2006
Denominations	50 naira (US$0.35)	150 naira (US$1.17)
Quantity	500,000	50,000
Format	Horizontal	Vertical
Gauge	24.5 x 40	24.5 x 40
Colors	Green, full-color process
Process of Printing	Lithographic
Stamp Designer	Taiwo Faluyi
Printing	50 to a sheet
Printer	Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Limited, P.O. Box 3053, Lagos, Nigeria

The stamps are on sale in Nigerian post offices and through the following address:

The Manager

Nigerian Philatelic Service

P.M.B. 12647

GPO

Tinubu Street

Lagos, Nigeria

First-Day Covers

Covers for new stamps and postal stationery items with official “first day of issue” cancellations are available from the sources listed below. A “first day cover” is a specially designed envelope that marks the first day of issue for commemorative stamps. The stamp is affixed on this envelope and postmarked with the date of issue and the city in which the stamp was first released. After applying the “first day of issue” postmark, the post office will return the envelopes through the mail. Each stamp has an individual catalog number and is listed in major stamp catalogs.

A first-day issue of the Emeagwali stamp costs 600 naira (about US$5) which includes the face value of the stamp. Collectors desiring first-day cancellations may purchase them from the Crown Agents Stamps Bureau in the United Kingdom or the Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation in the United States.

The Crown Agents Stamps Bureau

3rd Floor
St Nicholas House
St Nicholas Road
Sutton
Surrey
SM1 1EL
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)20 8770 0707
Fax: +44 (0)20 8642 0769
Telex: 916205 Calond G

Email: allen.price@crownagents.co.uk

Website: www.casb.co.uk

Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation
460 West 34th Street
10th Floor
New York, NY 10001
USA

Tel: (212) 629-7979

Fax: (212) 629-3350

Email: postmaster@igpc.net (for questions); service@igpc.net (for orders)