JACK DONGARRA, A JUDGE OF THE 1989 GORDON BELL PRIZE,AND PROFESSOR OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE,ON THE SCOPE OF ACHIEVEMENT OF PHILIP EMEAGWALI,1989 GORDON BELL PRIZE WINNER

1. from Jack Dongarra <dongarra@eecs.utk.edu> to toyin adepoju <toyin.adepoju@googlemail.com> date 4 November 2010 11:13 subject Re: ENQUIRY ON PHILIP EMEAGWALI,WINNER OF THE 1989 GORDON BELL PRIZE mailed-by eecs.utk.edu

This was over 22 years ago and I really don't remember. I would disagree with much of what you have written.

He had nothing to do with the development of the CM-2.

He had nothing to do with the development of the internet.

I know of no contribution that Emeagali has made in computational science.

His work on the Bell Prize has had no impact.

Hope this is clear.

Jack Dongarra

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Prof. Jack Dongarra; Innovative Computing Laboratory; EECS Department;

1122 Volunteer Blvd; University of Tennessee; Knoxville TN 37996-3450;

+1-865-974-8295; dongarra@eecs.utk.edu; http://www.cs.utk.edu/~dongarra/

2. 

from Jack Dongarra <dongarra@eecs.utk.edu> to toyin adepoju <toyin.adepoju@googlemail.com> date 4 November 2010 14:59 subject Re: ENQUIRY ON PHILIP EMEAGWALI,WINNER OF THE 1989 GORDON BELL PRIZE mailed-by eecs.utk.edu

Just add to each of these "To my knowledge".

Jack Dongarra

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Prof. Jack Dongarra; Innovative Computing Laboratory; EECS Department;

1122 Volunteer Blvd; University of Tennessee; Knoxville TN 37996-3450;

+1-865-974-8295; dongarra@eecs.utk.edu; http://www.cs.utk.edu/~dongarra/

3.Questions to which the mail from Professor Jack Dongarra is responding to:

from toyin adepoju <toyin.adepoju@googlemail.com> to dongarra@cs.utk.edu date 20 October 2010 15:27 subject ENQUIRY ON PHILIP EMEAGWALI,WINNER OF THE 1989 GORDON BELL PRIZE mailed-by googlemail.com

Dear Professor Dongara,

Good afternoon.

I hope this meets you well.

This email is an enquiry relating to Philip Emeagwali, one of the Winners of the Gordon  Bell Prize of 1989 of which you were one of the  judges.

There has been significant confusion in various publications as to the scope of the achievements of Philip Emeagwali,particularly in terms of the character of his achievement that won him the Gordon Bell Prize, leading various people and bodies to seek clarification.As far as I know,your views as a scientist and a judge of that prize are yet to be sought on this subject

It would be most helpful if you could  clarify the following issues dealing with the facts  of this matter:

1.The copy of a report on the prize described as written by you and the other judges( found on the Wikipedia article on Emeawagwali and attached to this mail) described Emeagwali as using the Connection Machine or CM-2 in the work that won him the prize.It is claimed in other publications that he programmed this computer remotely.Do you know if this is correct?

2.Are you aware if  he played any role in the development of the CM-2 or of supercomputing generally?

3.Are you aware of any effect his work with the CM-2 has  made to the development of the Internet?

4.Are you aware of any contributions made by Emeagwali's work to the  oil and information technology industries?

It would also be helpful if you could express an opinion on the following question which is less one of  fact but of  judgement on the subject:

It is puzzling that in spite of Emeagwali's achievement in winning the Gordon Bell Prize,there is hardly any  reference to his work  in scientific  or industry literature.Could you suggest any opinion as to why that is the case?

Thank you very much

Toyin Adepoju,

PhD candidate,Comparative Literature Programme,University College,London.