Saarland University: Department of Computer Science celebrated 50th anniversary

During the evening ceremony Tobias Hans addressed the audience. Credits: Oliver Dietze

The Department of Computer Science at Saarland University turned 50 years old as of a few days ago. While Günter Hotz was the first professor of computer science in 1969, there are now 1900 students enrolled in computer science, and around 800 scientists conduct research at the six world-renowned research institutes, which jointly operate as the “Saarland Informatics Campus” (SIC). During the last weekend in May, the Department of Computer Science celebrated its birthday with several events.

Since April 9, the lecture series “50 Years of Computer Science at Saarland University – From Past to the Present” took place at the Filmhaus Saarbrücken every Tuesday. Scientists who work in the institutes of the Saarland Informatics Campus presented their most recent research projects and talked about the history of their institute. The series led up to the celebrations on the weekend, and thus ended on Tuesday with a talk on IT security held by CISPA researcher Nils Ole Tippenhauer.

Saturday began with an open house. From 10 a.m. onwards, the Department of Computer Science presented research projects and courses of study in the foyer of the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (building E1 5), including the new study course “Data Science and Artificial Intelligence”. In addition, the Center for Bioinformatics, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, the CISPA – Helmholtz Center for Information Security and the Department of Linguistics and Language Technology opened their doors.

A scientific symposium started on campus at 1 p.m., during which Professor Günter Hotz, the founding father of computer science in Saarbrücken, was presented with the honorary senator’s chain. This was followed by 30-minute lectures by graduates who have celebrated successes in research, business and politics due to their education in Saarbrücken. The ceremony included short talks by Professor Susanne Albers from Munich Technical University; Professor Volker Claus from Stuttgart University; Professor Bernhard Nebel from Freiburg University; Fabian Suchanek, Professor at Télécom ParisTech University; Rafal Mantiuk from Cambridge University; Ferri Abholhassan, Member of the Board of Management of Telekom Deutschland; and Ammar Alkassar, Representative for Innovation and Strategy at the Saarland State Chancellery.
The Saturday events will concluded with a ceremony at which Prime Minister Tobias Hans addressed the audience.

On Sunday, the finale of the 30th Saar International Music Festival in honor of the computer science department at Saarland University took place at 11 a.m. in the Congresshalle. The Deutsche Radio Philharmonie played the “Symphonie brève” by Louis Théodore Gouvy and the “Clarinet Concerto” by Kimmo Hakola. The finale concluded with the “Sacre du printemps” by Igor Stravinsky.

Editor:
Gordon Bolduan
Competence Center Computer Science Saarland
Saarland Informatics Campus (SIC)
Phone: +49 681 302 70 741
Email: bolduan@mmci.uni-saarland.de