Jacek Karpiński
Jacek Karpiński (9 April 1927 – 21 February 2010) was a Polish pioneer in computer engineering and computer science.
Jacek Karpiński | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 9, 1927 Turin, Italy |
| Died | February 21, 2010 (aged 82) Wrocław, Poland |
| Occupation(s) | Electronics, cybernetics and programming engineer |
| Awards | |
During World War II, he was a soldier in the Batalion Zośka of the Polish Home Army, and was awarded multiple times with a Cross of Valour. He took part in Operation Kutschera (intelligence) and the Warsaw Uprising, where he was heavily wounded.
Later, he became a developer of one of the first machine learning algorithms, techniques for character and image recognition.
After receiving a UNESCO award in 1960, he travelled for several years around the academic centres in the United States, including MIT, Harvard, Caltech, and many others.
In 1971, he designed one of the first minicomputers, the K-202. Because of the policy on computer development in the People's Republic of Poland, belonging to the Comecon that time, the K-202 was never mass-produced.
Karpiński later became a pig farmer, and in 1981, after receiving a passport, emigrated to Switzerland.
He also founded the Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence of the Polish Academy of Sciences in the early 1960s.