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The Gleaner, Kingston, Jamaica, March 23, 2001.
THE
Jamaican Medical Foundation
has invited renowned
mathematician, marine engineer and computer scientist, Dr. Phillip
Emeagwali, to address their Fund-raising Banquet at the Hilton
Kingston Hotel, on March 24, 2001.
Most, if not, all professionals in the information technology
field will
immediately recognize this icon , who helped to revolutionise the use
of the computer and is the first to develop a personal web site on the
Internet. Today, he is referred to as the "Bill Gates of Africa".
The pioneer in massively parallel computing, Dr. Emeagwali created
what is called The Connection Machine in 1989. This parallel
connection of 65,000 computers formed the fastest computer on earth,
which performed 3.1 billion calculations per second.
Dr. Emeagwali has been highly accredited for his breakthrough
technology that is now one of the bases upon which search engines for
web sites are run.
Chairman of the Jamaica Medical Foundation, Oliver Jones said,
"We hope that bringing Dr. Emeagwali to Jamaica will take us a step
closer to bridging the gap between information technology and the
health care sector in terms of the wealth of knowledge and advice that
he will no doubt share with us."
Dr. Emeagwali, whose visit is sponsored by Digicel, finds
supercomputing fascinating and challenging and is particularly focused
on utilising the technology to alleviate societal problems such as
predicting the spread of AIDS. Currently, he is working towards
designing a supercomputer to tackle twenty national computational
grand challenges, as identified by the US President's Office of
science and Technology Policy.
United States President, Bill Clinton, on a trip to Nigeria, called
Emeagwali, "one of the great minds of the Information Age". He is the
only individual to have won the prestigious Gordon Bell Prize, which
is usually awarded to teams.
His parallel computers have been used to explain how sperms swim, how
polluted ground water flows, how volcanic eruptions happen and how to
recover larger and safer quantities of petroleum.
Dr. Emeagwali's computations have also been instrumental in
meteorologist's ability to forecast long-term global warming patterns.
PHOTO CAPTION (The Gleaner, jamaica-gleaner.com,
Friday March 23, 2001, Page 27):
Dr. Philip Emeagwali (right) and wife, (second left) are welcomed by the
Tourist Board at the Norman Manley International Airport. There to meet them are
chairman of the Jamaica Medical Foundation (JMF), Oliver Jones (left) and Digicel's marketing manager, Harry Smith. Dr. Emeagwali will be the keynote speaker at the
JMF's Gala Fund-raising Banquet tomorrow at the Hilton Hotel.
Jamaica Tourist Board "Welcome to Jamaica" reception at the Norman Manley
International Airport. From left are:
Oliver Jones (chairman, Jamaica Medical Foundation),
Harry Smith (marketing manager, Digicel Corporation) and Philip Emeagwali.
(March 15, 2001.)
Jamaica Tourist Board "Welcome to Jamaica" reception at the Norman Manley
International Airport. From left are:
Oliver Jones (chairman, Jamaica Medical Foundation),
Harry Smith (marketing manager, Digicel Corporation) and Philip
Emeagwali and Dale Emeagwali.
(March 15, 2001.)
On our drive from Mandeville to Northern Caribbean University, we stopped at Ingleside.
March 22, 2001.
We were mobbed for autographs after a school presentation in Montego Bay (March 21, 2001)
Exchangin ideas with teachers at St. Elizabeth Technical
High School. These students are Elizabeth are intelligent, hardworking and focused.
Education in Jamaica is similar to those in Nigeria and United Kingdom.
Jamaican youths take the CXC (Caribbean Examination Council), which is similar to
the GCE (General Certificate of Education) and WAEC (West African
Examination Council). A few days later, I was featured in a segment of
Jamaican School Challenge Quiz. This is an annual competition among senior high school students.
(Otis Simpson, Racquel Tomlinson, Kevin Howell OR Keith Wellington,
Pearline Cooper, Otis Simpson, Racquel Tomlinson, Kevin Howell)
(March 21, 2001)
On a glorious sunset champagne cruise aboard the
honeymoon yacht of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier of
Monaco, the 147-foot M/Y Zein. This yacht was a gift from Aristotle
Onassis. One of the crew members
spread the word that a "celebrity author is onboard"
and the passengers kept pestering me to reveal my identity.
(Near Grand Lido Resort, Negril, Jamaica. April 2, 2001)
I threw away my books to quietly contemplate baffling questions such as
"is a Pina Colada better with light or dark rum?" At night, I danced to the throbbing beat of reggae.
(Piano bar, Grand Lido Negril. April 4, 2001)
A walk along Negril's legendary 7-mile beach.
Nearby are secluded beaches for those who choose to go
au naturel. Decadence is alive and thriving in Negril, where
vacationers know how to take the pleasure principle to new
extremes. Some vacationers in Negril did things they would never
tell their mother about. Things I've only heard in whispered tones. Things like
playing volleyball. Naked.
(Grand Lido Resort, Negril, Jamaica. April 4, 2001.)
Emeagwali at Grand Lido, Negril, Jamaica.
(April 4, 2001)
Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke (right) examines a Global System for
Mobiles (GSM) cellular phone shown to him by Digicel marketing director, Mr. Harry Smith,
(first left) while computer scientist/mathematician, Dr. Philip Emeagwali and
Digicel finance manager Carol Pryce look on with interest during their courtesy call on the
Governor-General at King's House recently.
We are still waiting for photos from our courtesy calls on the the
Minister of Education Burchell Whiteman, Leader of the
Opposition Edward Seaga and the Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke.
We will also post videos from the airport welcome, two TV interviews and the Banquet, and
audios from three radio interviews.
- Photos from Gil Kong in Montego Bay.
Presentation to the schools was arranged by
National Training Institute (H.E.A.R.T.) and staged at the
St. John's Methodist Church Hall.
- Minister of Education
- Mr. Edward Seaga
- Audio tape done by Kayode
- Two videos from the TV station (Profiel by Ian Boyne & "Smile Jamaica")
- Two and half hour radio interview on "My Place"
- Banquet video
- Tommy James's scanned photos
Click on emeagwali.com for more information.
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