Bob Herschberg

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Bob Herschberg [1]

Israel Samuel (Bob) Herschberg, (March 18, 1928 - March 19, 1998)
was a Dutch chemist, computer scientist, and from 1978 until his retirement at January 16, 1998, professor of Computer Science at the Delft University of Technology. With Jaap van den Herik, Bob Herschberg was long time editor of the ICCA Journal as well as editor of the Advances in Computer Chess 7 conference proceedings.

Biography

Born 1928 in Rotterdam, Israel Samuel Herschberg visited the Gymnasium Erasmianum until the Nuremberg Laws were applied during the German Occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. He continued at the Joodse Lycea (Jewish College) in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, until he got arrested in April 1944, and imprisoned in the Bergen-Belsen Nazi concentration camp (via Westerbork). After his liberation he continued at Gymnasium Erasmianum and got a diplom in 1946 [2].

Bob Herschberg started to study chemistry in Amsterdam and had first contact with computers in 1958. His 1966 thesis Overdetermined Linear Systems in Multicomponent Spectrophotometry [3] from the Eindhoven University of Technology was a groundbreaking publication, and his related school of information theory was yielding a new generation of computer scientist in the Netherlands. After a career as consultant at Nederlandse Staatsmijnen and Unilever, where he revealed many errors in the operating systems of their mainframes, he accepted a professorship at Delft University of Technology in 1978, with research interests Information security and Computer Chess [4]. He had the fame as "The Ethical Hacker" [5] and in his inaugural address titled In de Ban van de Fout (Under the spell of error) [6] he stated that the protection of private-sensitive data is actually impossible. Only two months after his retirement, Israel Samuel Herschberg passed away at age 70.

Poems

Under the acronym DRISH, Bob Herschberg was a writer of poems, and published/translated Hebrew and French poems and literature of Judah Halevi, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Leah Goldberg and Charles d’ Orléans [7].

Quotes

by David Levy from Intelligence blues, Bewaar Me [8]:

Perhaps Bob Herschberg has found the answer. Deep Blue beats Kasparov - now it is time to retire! 

by Jaap van den Herik from Israel Samuel Herschberg: An Obituary [9]

Bob Herschberg was fully dedicated to science, language, literature, and problem solving. He was not a chess-player himself, but his father was, and in the Jewish tradition he liked what his father liked. Therefor he was interested in computer chess. Consequently, he encouraged me to bring the ICCA Newsletters/Journal to Delft and promised me support. As all readers know he was a stickler for perfection. Being so devoted to science, he entrusted his body to science. I am sure, his contributions to computer chess will live on. 

Selected Publications

[10] [11]

1966

  • Israel Samuel Herschberg (1966). Overdetermined Linear Systems in Multicomponent Spectrophotometry. Proefschrift, available as pdf reprint

1977

1980 ...

1985 ...

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990 ...

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995 ...

1996

1997

1998

External Links

References

  1. Prof. I.S. Herschberg laat studenten inbreken in computersystemen, Brabants Dagblad November 28, 1987, Photo by Bert Houweling, from Giga's Hacker Media by Walter Belgers
  2. Israel Samuel Herschberg (1966). Overdetermined Linear Systems in Multicomponent Spectrophotometry. page 159 Levensbericht
  3. Israel Samuel Herschberg (1966). Overdetermined Linear Systems in Multicomponent Spectrophotometry. available as pdf reprint
  4. Israel Samuel Herschberg from Wikipedia.nl
  5. Subject: Hacking at the End of the Universe, Summer Congress 1993 - fun reading (especially toward the end) by Dave Farber, May 21, 1993
  6. Bob Herschberg (1978). In de Ban van de Fout. Inaugurele rede. Technische Hogescholl Delft.
  7. Bewaar Me, Liber amicorum voor Prof. dr. I.S. Herschberg, Redactie H.J. van den Herik en E. Roos Lindgreen, Delft, 16 januari 1998
  8. David Levy (1998). Intelligence blues from Bewaar Me, Liber amicorum voor Prof. dr. I.S. Herschberg, Redactie H.J. van den Herik en E. Roos Lindgreen, Delft 16 januari 1998
  9. Jaap van den Herik (1998) Israel Samuel Herschberg: An Obituary. ICCA Journal Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 121.
  10. ICGA Reference Database
  11. I. S. Herschberg List of publications from the DBLP Bibliography Server

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