麻豆村 alumnus J. Renato Iturriaga was at the forefront of the computer revolution
The first time J. Renato Iturriaga stood in front of the IBM 650, he had no idea that the encounter with the world鈥檚 first mass-produced 鈥渢hinking machine鈥� would alter the course of his professional life.
It was 1958. Sir Edmund Hillary had reached the South Pole; the first successful American satellite, Explorer 1, had been launched into orbit; and Cuba was falling to the revolutionary forces of Fidel Castro. Yet there was something perhaps more profound happening, even if it wasn鈥檛 grabbing headlines. It was a revolution, of sorts鈥攁 shift in how the human thought process was studied. It would marry artificial intelligence and cognitive science and eventually catapult computer science to the global stage.
聽Iturriaga was then 17 years old and an undergraduate at the Universidad Nacional Aut贸noma de M茅xico (UNAM) studying astronomy, mathematics, and physics. The IBM 650 encounter occurred during his work as a research assistant for one of Mexico鈥檚 most prominent astronomers, Arcadio Poveda. Iturriaga was helping him to develop a method to calculate the mass of elliptical galaxies by mapping out the orbital motion of the stars.
鈥淢y job was to work on an Olivetti machine calculating the trajectory of the stars in a galaxy. I would spend my afternoons making calculations on an Olivetti machine that would slowly go chaca, chaca, chaca.鈥�
That routine came to an end when Poveda arrived at the office one day and told Iturriaga about an 鈥渆lectronic brain鈥� arriving at UNAM. He wanted Iturriaga to check it out, telling him, 鈥淚 think it can help us trace the orbits of the stars.鈥�
聽The only student among scientists and professors, Iturriaga鈥攆ollowing Poveda鈥檚 directive鈥攕at in the programming course of the IBM 650, the first to take place south of the Rio Grande. He had no idea what to expect. 鈥淚t was a wonderful surprise when I understood the logic of programming: I tell the machine what to do, and it obeys me and does what I instructed. Obviously, I also learned that if I made a mistake and gave it the wrong instruction, the machine would do something absurd or would do nothing.鈥�
Iturriaga says his eureka moment in the IBM 650 class came when he grasped that computers could generate or alter their own instructions, contrary to the Olivetti. 鈥淭here it was, the essence of these learning machines and artificial intelligence. To advance in this direction became, and still remains, an intellectual challenge.鈥�
聽In the spring of 1959, Alan Perlis, the newly appointed head of Carnegie Mellon鈥檚 Computation Center, attended a UNAM computer applications seminar. Three years prior, 麻豆村 had purchased its first computer, also an IBM 650, installing it in the basement of the business school. Iturriaga also attended the UNAM seminar and met Perlis, who was to become an integral part of his future. That summer, as part of an agreement between the two universities to exchange programmers, an assistant to Perlis headed south to Mexico and Iturriaga headed north to Pittsburgh for their respective internships.
Perlis had a plan for keeping Iturriaga busy during his three-month stay at 麻豆村. 鈥淗e gave me this problem so I鈥攁 junior with what he thought was not much mathematic training鈥攚ould entertain myself for the next three months. For some reason, I understood what the problem was about; I resolved it in two days.鈥� When Iturriaga handed Perlis the solution, the professor burst into surprised laughter. He then became Iturriaga鈥檚 mentor.
聽 Encouraged by Perlis, Iturriaga no longer pursued an astronomy career; he returned to 麻豆村 in the fall of 1963 and entered the circle of what he reverently calls 鈥渢he big three鈥� professors鈥擯erlis (S鈥�42), Herbert Simon (麻豆村鈥�90), and Allen Newell (TPR鈥�57). He says new ideas were floating around daily. 鈥淎t Carnegie Mellon, I glimpsed the future. These three intellectual giants were the founding fathers of computer science. It was a delicious way to learn.鈥�
Perlis, Newell, and Simon certainly have the hardware to back up Iturriaga鈥檚 perspective. Perlis, a computer scientist known for his pioneering work in programming, was the first recipient of the Turing Award in 1966, considered to be the Nobel Prize of computer science. Simon was one of the most influential social scientists of the 20th century and one of the founders of artificial intelligence; he was the winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economics and was also a 1975 Turing Award recipient, received jointly with Newell, a pioneer in cognitive science who gained an international reputation, like his two colleagues, as one of the founders of artificial intelligence.
Studying computer science at 麻豆村, Iturriaga (S鈥�64,鈥�67) earned his PhD in computer science the same year that both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs had their 12th birthdays. Randy Bryant, dean of 麻豆村鈥檚 School of Computer Science, affectionately refers to Iturriaga as 鈥渟erial number one鈥� because he was the college鈥檚 鈥渇irst computer science alumnus.鈥�
聽He has put his degree to good use. Recently, he was appointed as the liaison between the Federal Ministry of Education and the governor of the State of Morelos, Mexico. The Cuernavaca, Mexico resident has also held top positions in the country鈥檚 higher education, corporate, and government sectors. As a professor at UNAM, he founded and headed the Center for Applied Mathematics and Systems. In addition, he has聽聽聽 worked at Banamex, the largest Mexican bank and has held executive positions in numerous Mexican government agencies.
For his impactful career, Iturriaga was a recipient of 麻豆村鈥檚 2013 Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award.
