- Hermann Maurer
Hermann Maurer (born
April 26 ,1941 ) is anAustria n computer scientist, serving as Professor of Computer Science at theGraz University of Technology . He has supervised over 40dissertation s, written more than 20 books and over 600 scientific articles, and started or been involved with a number of companies.Life
Maurer was born in
Vienna . He studiedmathematics at theUniversity of Vienna and theUniversity of Calgary (in Canada) starting in 1959. He earned adoctorate in mathematics in 1965 underEdmund Hlawka , with a dissertation entitled "Rationale Approximationen Irrationaler Zahlen" (Rational Approximations of Irrational Numbers). He was a professor at the University of Calgary from 1966 to 1971, then moved to theUniversity of Karlsruhe from 1971 to 1977, and in 1978 became professor at the Graz University of Technology, where he has remained since.Technical contributions
Among Maurer's important contributions is the development and promotion of remote interactive
data terminal s that could display graphics rather than only the text that was conventional at the time, and even exchange programs. He invented theMUPID system, some of whose ideas would be used in theBildschirmtext system. A number of his students from this research went on to become influential in computer science, the telecommunications industry, and the civil service.In the 1980s he worked to develop
computer network equipment inStyria , and is considered to have helped pave the way for Europeaninternet technology. His later research in the area ofknowledge management led him to found the company [http://www.hyperwave.com/ Hyperwave] , which he chaired until its bankruptcy in 2005. Since 2006 he heads a new company,NewHyperG .Writings on the future
In his more recent publications, Maurer writes extensively on the future of technology. He thinks that future applications of computers can barely be described using today's terminology, and so employs metaphors such as
telepathy andteleportation when discussing some of them.He is also quite concerned with the risks of information technology, particularly the risk of
cyberterrorism due to increasing reliance on interconnected networks. He favors a move away from theVon Neumann architecture 's treatment of program code as a type of data, with it instead being put on non-modifiable media such as ROM chips that would be more secure from attacks by viruses.On non-technical issues, Maurer writes in favor of greater efforts to promote economic equality in managing a transition to a globalized economy. As a hobby, he writes
science fiction .References
*
*Notes
*
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
