iconize: September 27, 2013 is a day residents of the sleepy rural community of Umuchima, Ubaha, Okigwe Local Government Area of the state will not forget in a hurry. On this fateful day, a very unusual but deafening noise suddenly rented the air, accompanied by a rare spectacle that threw all and sundry into panic as they scampered into safety. The strange sound was later traced to the family home of a visually-impaired pensioner, Mr. Augustine Eke. What further heightened people’s anxiety was when they also noticed a thick smoke coming from the hapless man’s compound. They had every reason to believe that Boko Haram insurgents had invaded the community. News quickly spread that a rocket had landed in Eke’s compound. They were right but it was not coming from Boko Haram! Indeed it later turned out that there really was no cause for alarm as the rocket was nothing but a practical expression of the technological talents of an ex-student of Federal Government College, Okigwe, Gideon Chiadikobi Emenike and his friend, Chibuisi Nwafor. The duo fabricated and launched a rocket that travelled over five kilometres into the sky before crash landing. The exploits of these youthful Nigerians may never have come to light but for the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Katsina. Again, if they had been treated like common criminals, the story may have taken a different shape. Truth is that Katsina moved journalists to Okigwe for on-the-spot assessment of the exploits of the young lads. Giving account of what happened to newsmen, the Commissioner of Police said although the boys who fabricated the device were reckless, preliminary investigations did not raise any serious security concern.
*CP Mohammed Katsina addressing the boys The CP’S account: “We have identified the launch site and where the rocket crash landed. I know that the young chaps used simple components in activating this element. It is a combination of computer accessories and a highly inflammable substance. “I will not, for security reasons disclose all the details we have concerning the device. What I want you to understand is that one of the components is something very common, something you and I use on a daily basis- sugar. We know sugar is highly inflammable. It is this sugar and some other components that propelled this device you hear that crash landed in Okigwe. “Although the young boys can be said to be excessively reckless, preliminary investigations have not shown any criminal motive behind the adventure. I see the development as an excursion into the world of science and technology by some adventurous, skillful and intelligent young boys with incredible creativity. “This endowment propelled them into designing their own style of spacecraft.
*The CP holding aloft the rocket after it crashlanded When they launched this thing, there was about 30 minutes dream journey into space. The element eventually lost focus and crash-landed here (pointing at the point). We thank God that there was no fatal consequence to either life or property. “The element has been deactivated by our bomb disposal unit. I can tell you that the contraption does not contain any toxic or radioactive material. I like to authoritatively inform you at this juncture that the boys’ conduct was not an act of terrorism. It was a mere adventure by two young boys. “Let me also say that people should feel free and go about their normal business. We have taken possession of the whole area. Everything has been cleared, cleaned and rendered safe for human habitation. Apart from the initial pandemonium and fear created in the minds of the people in the neighbourhood, everything ended well. “The boys are just between 16 and 17 years old. They only tried out their learning while in the secondary school. They wanted to know if they can practicalise the theories they learnt in school. The dream of these young boys is to design a spacecraft. It was launched without funfair. “The device went some kilometres into the sky before crash-landing. Let us not forget that the command has some formidable structures on ground. We have since commenced the sweeping of Imo State of all explosive ordinances. I want these boys to be encouraged. May be, who knows tomorrow, at my old age, I may be the lucky one that would fly in the spacecraft made by these young lads. “So, I would rather not think of punitive measures against the boys. I would rather dwell heavily on protection, rehabilitation and encouragement of these young boys. Those who ran away are free to come back. From this moment, we have ended this case. Gideon speaks: “My name is Gideon Chiadikobi Emenike and my friend’s name is Chibuisi Nwafor. I studied in Federal Government College, Okigwe and I graduated last year. This project started when I was still in school. I was told to build a project in school for a competition. “In my SS1, I built a helicopter. In my SS2, I was told to build another project. I built this rocket and we went for a competition in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. I came second in the competition with the project. This was at the national level. “We also went for another competition organised by the Society for Science and Technology. I also came second. I also went for Olympiad and I equally came second there. I was told that I was going to represent Nigeria in Brazil but later, my principal said that I was no longer going to represent the country. “I still don’t know why the principal cancelled the trip. This frustrated me somehow but later, I picked up from where I dropped and started again. I now met my friend at a learning centre. I found out that he has for things related to science. We now pooled our brains together. “That was how we planned to build a rocket and a satellite, as well as sending it into space. It was an amateur satellite because you know we have not yet university graduates. We just graduated from secondary school last year. “We have done this for now. I was really challenged when I heard that other countries were planning to launch satellites into space. It made me to think deep. This is what pushed to do what you are seeing today. If government can adopt our technology, we can help them to actualize their dream of launching a satellite. “This particular project was a mere attempt to reach a particular altitude. It was not fashioned to remain in space. This project came through after several experiments. If the Federal Government can sponsor us, we can take Nigeria to any level they want. The boy’s father speaks “My name is Friday Mgbemena Emenike. My son is curious about science. He got admission in University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, the last time. I tried to make him to study medicine but he rejected it and preferred to read aeronautic engineering. That was why he refused the admission. That is why he is still at home. “He got an opportunity to travel to Brazil but the principal of his former school frustrated the move. He is intelligent. I am aware of this incident. When it happened, I didn’t feel too good till I learnt that the thing did not kill anybody and that it did not destroy anything. That increased my joy and I described it as the first victory. “The question which Vanguard Metro and well meaning people of Imo State are asking is whether the Federal and State governments have taken note of the success recorded by these boys. What they will do with these boys thereafter equally remains a huge guess.
Teens in Nigeria are busy building rockets whilst teens in gayna like petrodolla are busy surfing the internet to get unsubstantiated claims about Nigeria. Gaynaians should get busy!
PetroDolla2: shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarap dog. hahahahahahah you see how I exposed your lies? stvpid mumugerian with an IQ of less than 5. shameless goat. I guess you have rags and cotton wool inside your head,huh? such a bull sh1t country. only God will save a mumu like you from terminal insanity
PetroDolla2: shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarap dog. hahahahahahah you see how I exposed your lies? stvpid mumugerian with an IQ of less than 5. shameless goat. I guess you have rags and cotton wool inside your head,huh? such a bull sh1t country. only God will save a mumu like you from terminal insanity
Awe Kludze never imagined he would command a Nasa spacecraft
On the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, BBC News asks one of Africa's pioneering scientists, Dr Ave Kludze, of the US space agency Nasa what inspired his stellar career and what he thinks of the standard of science teaching in Africa today.
As a young boy I was always very curious.
My parents didn't like to leave me at home alone, because they knew I would dismantle the radio.
Even at my friends' houses, I would try to take the television apart, to find out how it worked. I never imagined I would have the opportunity to work for Nasa. Not with my background
Does Africa support science?
But my life changed the first time I went to the airport in Accra. I saw an aeroplane landing and taking off.
I knew then that I wanted to be pilot.
From that day, everything I read was scientific. At school, I read science subjects.
My father wanted me to be a lawyer. But he supported my ambitions. So I was lucky.
But then, when I was 17, I found out that I could not fulfil my dream. I could not become a pilot.
The reason was that my brother, my father and my mother all wore glasses. This implied that, one day, I would wear glasses too. And indeed I do.
I was very disappointed.
Solar power
I decided to channel my energy elsewhere - into engineering.
I studied electrical engineering in the US, at Rutgers University, New Jersey. The Calipso satellite, developed with Dr Kludze's help, launched in 2006
My intention was to return to Ghana, so I started to focus my mind on using solar energy to power appliances: Solar fridges, solar fans, solar freezers - solar everything.
The sun is for free, so I believe we have to use it in Africa. We have to work with the resources we have.
But instead of working on solar panels in Ghana, I got a job with Nasa, developing and flying spacecraft.
I never imagined I would have the opportunity to work for Nasa. Not with my background.
I remember watching the Challenger incident - when the shuttle disintegrated.
I visited the "American Centre", in Ghana, where I watched the tragedy on the news. Afterwards I wrote to Nasa and they replied to me.
They sent me pictures and documents on some of their spacecraft and I put them on my wall.
I still have these pictures today. AVE'S FLIGHT PATH 1966: Born in Hohoe, Ghana 1978: Attends Adisadel College, Cape Coast 1989: Studies electrical engineering at Rutgers University, USA 1995: Hired by Nasa 2004: Helps develop the Extravehicular Activity Infrared (EVA IR) camera for space-walking astronauts 2006: Becomes technical adviser to Nasa Office of the Inspector General 2006: Launch of the Calipso environmental satellite, for which Dr Kludze was a systems engineer
Now many years later, I have worked at Nasa headquarters, in Washington, as a requirements manager. I help Nasa to take strategic decisions.
President [George] Bush outlined his vision that Nasa would go back to the Moon by 2020, so the agency is working towards that.
I am working on the communication systems the astronauts will use on the Moon, and on Mars.
They will send back pictures live. I have to make sure we don't leave out any requirements. Things have moved on a long way from Apollo.
I have flown several spacecraft - including the Calipso satellite.
But I was not in orbit - I flew them from the ground, using robotic controls at the Nasa control centre.
African mission
People ask me: What has Nasa done for Africans?
But many of them have cell phones - which were developed with Nasa technology.
The cars they drive and the glasses they wear - all of these have benefited from Nasa technology. It trickles down to the ordinary man.
Nasa is not only concerned with space. We develop technologies for aeroplanes.
And our way of developing systems applies to all kinds of engineering projects.
If you had a water project, for agriculture, Nasa technology could make your project more efficient.
I think the younger generation in Ghana today have more opportunities than I did to become scientists.
Dr Kludze has "flown" Calipso from a Nasa control centre
I first saw a computer in the USA. Today, the younger generation have access to the internet - they can get any information they want.
The education I received in Ghana was very sound - it served me remarkably well at Rutgers.
But where African schools have a problem, is that they focus heavily on theory, whereas [universities] focus on the practical - solving real world problems.
If we can bring that practical element into African schools, then we have a lot of brilliant young minds who will benefit.
When I was growing up it was difficult for science drop-outs and those students who were unable to further their education.
There were few avenues for them to become useful members of society using their acquired scientific knowledge. They ended up doing other jobs.
Young Einsteins
But times have changed. In Ghana, I understand they are encouraging pupils to pursue science.
But the question is: After you graduate, do you have the necessary resources to go further?
When I grew up in Ghana, we ploughed the fields using cattle and hoes.
The last time I went home, we were still using them. So where are our engineers?
We need the governments to invest in technology. Then the educational institutes can follow.
When I grew up, my scientific role models were not Africans.
I admired people like Albert Einstein. I was amazed that he could be on our planet and yet he could tell us about different planets.
But today I know many successful African scientists. People like my friend Dr Ohene Frempong, of the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP). He works on sickle cell anaemia.
There are others who have done very well.
What are my remaining ambitions?
Well, I don't plan to go into space. I will leave that to the younger generation.
I will continue contributing to President Bush's vision - to go to the Moon, to Mars, and beyond.
September 27, 2013 is a day residents of the sleepy rural community of Umuchima, Ubaha, Okigwe Local Government Area of the state will not forget in a hurry. On this fateful day, a very unusual but deafening noise suddenly rented the air, accompanied by a rare spectacle that threw all and sundry into panic as they scampered into safety. The strange sound was later traced to the family home of a visually-impaired pensioner, Mr. Augustine Eke. What further heightened people’s anxiety was when they also noticed a thick smoke coming from the hapless man’s compound. They had every reason to believe that Boko Haram insurgents had invaded the community. News quickly spread that a rocket had landed in Eke’s compound. They were right but it was not coming from Boko Haram! Indeed it later turned out that there really was no cause for alarm as the rocket was nothing but a practical expression of the technological talents of an ex-student of Federal Government College, Okigwe, Gideon Chiadikobi Emenike and his friend, Chibuisi Nwafor. The duo fabricated and launched a rocket that travelled over five kilometres into the sky before crash landing. The exploits of these youthful Nigerians may never have come to light but for the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Katsina. Again, if they had been treated like common criminals, the story may have taken a different shape. Truth is that Katsina moved journalists to Okigwe for on-the-spot assessment of the exploits of the young lads. Giving account of what happened to newsmen, the Commissioner of Police said although the boys who fabricated the device were reckless, preliminary investigations did not raise any serious security concern.
*CP Mohammed Katsina addressing the boys The CP’S account: “We have identified the launch site and where the rocket crash landed. I know that the young chaps used simple components in activating this element. It is a combination of computer accessories and a highly inflammable substance. “I will not, for security reasons disclose all the details we have concerning the device. What I want you to understand is that one of the components is something very common, something you and I use on a daily basis- sugar. We know sugar is highly inflammable. It is this sugar and some other components that propelled this device you hear that crash landed in Okigwe. “Although the young boys can be said to be excessively reckless, preliminary investigations have not shown any criminal motive behind the adventure. I see the development as an excursion into the world of science and technology by some adventurous, skillful and intelligent young boys with incredible creativity. “This endowment propelled them into designing their own style of spacecraft.
*The CP holding aloft the rocket after it crashlanded When they launched this thing, there was about 30 minutes dream journey into space. The element eventually lost focus and crash-landed here (pointing at the point). We thank God that there was no fatal consequence to either life or property. “The element has been deactivated by our bomb disposal unit. I can tell you that the contraption does not contain any toxic or radioactive material. I like to authoritatively inform you at this juncture that the boys’ conduct was not an act of terrorism. It was a mere adventure by two young boys. “Let me also say that people should feel free and go about their normal business. We have taken possession of the whole area. Everything has been cleared, cleaned and rendered safe for human habitation. Apart from the initial pandemonium and fear created in the minds of the people in the neighbourhood, everything ended well. “The boys are just between 16 and 17 years old. They only tried out their learning while in the secondary school. They wanted to know if they can practicalise the theories they learnt in school. The dream of these young boys is to design a spacecraft. It was launched without funfair. “The device went some kilometres into the sky before crash-landing. Let us not forget that the command has some formidable structures on ground. We have since commenced the sweeping of Imo State of all explosive ordinances. I want these boys to be encouraged. May be, who knows tomorrow, at my old age, I may be the lucky one that would fly in the spacecraft made by these young lads. “So, I would rather not think of punitive measures against the boys. I would rather dwell heavily on protection, rehabilitation and encouragement of these young boys. Those who ran away are free to come back. From this moment, we have ended this case. Gideon speaks: “My name is Gideon Chiadikobi Emenike and my friend’s name is Chibuisi Nwafor. I studied in Federal Government College, Okigwe and I graduated last year. This project started when I was still in school. I was told to build a project in school for a competition. “In my SS1, I built a helicopter. In my SS2, I was told to build another project. I built this rocket and we went for a competition in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. I came second in the competition with the project. This was at the national level. “We also went for another competition organised by the Society for Science and Technology. I also came second. I also went for Olympiad and I equally came second there. I was told that I was going to represent Nigeria in Brazil but later, my principal said that I was no longer going to represent the country. “I still don’t know why the principal cancelled the trip. This frustrated me somehow but later, I picked up from where I dropped and started again. I now met my friend at a learning centre. I found out that he has for things related to science. We now pooled our brains together. “That was how we planned to build a rocket and a satellite, as well as sending it into space. It was an amateur satellite because you know we have not yet university graduates. We just graduated from secondary school last year. “We have done this for now. I was really challenged when I heard that other countries were planning to launch satellites into space. It made me to think deep. This is what pushed to do what you are seeing today. If government can adopt our technology, we can help them to actualize their dream of launching a satellite. “This particular project was a mere attempt to reach a particular altitude. It was not fashioned to remain in space. This project came through after several experiments. If the Federal Government can sponsor us, we can take Nigeria to any level they want. The boy’s father speaks “My name is Friday Mgbemena Emenike. My son is curious about science. He got admission in University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, the last time. I tried to make him to study medicine but he rejected it and preferred to read aeronautic engineering. That was why he refused the admission. That is why he is still at home. “He got an opportunity to travel to Brazil but the principal of his former school frustrated the move. He is intelligent. I am aware of this incident. When it happened, I didn’t feel too good till I learnt that the thing did not kill anybody and that it did not destroy anything. That increased my joy and I described it as the first victory. “The question which Vanguard Metro and well meaning people of Imo State are asking is whether the Federal and State governments have taken note of the success recorded by these boys. What they will do with these boys thereafter equally remains a huge guess.
Philip Emeagwali stirs up diverse emotions in Nigerians, Africans, and black people around the world. His claim of being a father of the Internet, of having invented the Connection Machine, of possessing 41patented inventions, of winning “the Nobel Prize of Computing” and of being a “doctor” and/or “professor” have been conclusively debunked with widely documented evidence.
Fraudulent claims help Emeagwali get on the Nigerian N50 postal stamp
Yet, the figure of Emeagwali as a black scientific, engineering, and information technology genius and pioneer continues to loom large over discussions of black achievement. The legend of Philip Emeagwali’s purported inventions, widely proven to emanate from the perverse deceptive genius of the man himself, endures and proliferates among Nigerian and black groups around the world.
Only recently, the USAfricadialogue googlegroups listserv managed by Professor Toyin Falola of the University of Texas hosted a discussion on Philip Emeagwali’s vast fraud. Participants in the discussion included Nigerian and African intellectuals, scientists, engineers, and IT professionals. Overall, the discussion reinforced and reiterated one of the worst kept secrets in the Nigerian Diaspora, especially in its online community: that none of Emeagwali’s highfalutin claims, on whose strength he has curried and continues to curry favor and recognition from gullible and hero-hungry black people, is true. Yet, just a few days ago, one of Nigeria’s more visible dailies, The Vanguard, included the academic and intellectual fraud in its list of 20 “most influential Nigerians.” Curiously, unlike previous Nigerian publications and profiles on Mr. Emeagwali, the biographical write-up accompanying the nomination does not repeat any of the well-known claims and “achievements” that Emeagwali has aggressively and fraudulently peddled about himself — claims that many of our people regard as truth. Apparently, the journalists at The Vanguard have become exposed to the widely available refutations of those claims and now know that they are false. But that, precisely, is the outrage. If they know that he is not a father of the internet, did not win “the Nobel Prize” of Computing as he claims, has no invention patents, did not invent the connection machine, does not have a single academic publication, and is neither a “doctor” nor a “professor” by any definition of those terms, why did they include him on the list? What makes Mr. Emeagwali “influential,” his ability to deceive Nigerians and line his pockets on the black speechmaking circuit?
Nigerians and black people deserve to know who the real Philip Emeagwali is. This will save them from the embarrassment of continuing to celebrate a fraud while real black scientific achievers and pioneers starve for attention and recognition. To correct Nigeria’s scientific and technological lag there is a need for investments — both financial and motivational — in the sciences, engineering, and IT fields. Nigerian youths need inspiration in the quantitative and scientific disciplines, but they should get it from actual, not pretending, black scientific, computing, and engineering heroes, not from phonies like Mr. Emeagwali.
Patented Inventions Or The Invention Of Patents?
Debunking the many myths of Mr. Emeagwali’s “achievements” is one the easiest things to do on earth if you have a computer with Internet access. Let us start with his claim of possessing 41 (32 by some accounts on some hero-worshipping black websites) patents for various inventions. A simple search at the website of the US Patent and Trade Mark Office (here: http://tarr.uspto.gov/) reveals that Mr. Emeagwali has only one registered patent, for Emeagwali.com, his website. He has no other patent listed against his name. It is the same patent that most owners of independent websites apply for to legally protect their proprietary rights over the website and its contents. We can state conclusively then that Mr. Emeagwali has no patented invention of any kind, contrary to his and his supporters’ claim.
Specifically, Mr. Emeagwali claims to have invented the Connection Machine (CM-2). This false claim is displayed boldly and shamelessly on Emeagwali.com in the section on “inventions” and “discoveries.” Some black websites like this one http://inventors.about.com/od/blackinventors/a/black_historyE.htm credit Emeagwali with inventing the Hyberball Machine Networks (or the supercomputer). Both claims are demonstrably false. The connection Machine, which is capable of conducting simultaneous calculations using 65,000-processors, was conceived by Daniel Hills and built by Thinking Machine Corporation, which Mr. Hills, along with Sheryl Handler, founded in 1982. This information is widely available on the web. The so-called supercomputer is therefore clearly not the child of Mr. Emeagwali by even the most generous stretch of the imagination.
Internet Pioneer?
Mr. Emeagwali claims to have used the CM-2 Machine to carry out billions of calculations by connecting over 65,000 processors (computers) around the world. He claims that this was the rudimentary foundation of the Internet. It is on this ground that he has aggrandized to himself the title of “father of the internet.” But this is a barefaced lie at worst and an egregious exaggeration at best. And it is so absurd in its circular logic that it is hilarious. First, as stated earlier, Emeagwali did not invent the Connection Machine on which his “experiment” relied. Second, Emeagwali used more than 65,000 independent processors "around the world" (meaning on the Internet) to do his calculation. This means that the Internet already existed and that he RELIED ON it for his calculations. Unless the Internet he claims to have fathered is different from the Internet that already existed at the time of his experiment (and which we all know as the existing internet today), he COULD NOT have invented the Internet or fathered it. He could not have been using an internet that, by his claim, did not exist until he invented it. As this website http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/history/emeagwali.html makes very clear, Emeagwali’s research did not contribute to or help invent any of the known components of what we now know as the internet:
Philip Emeagwali did work in supercomputing in the [late] eighties……. But supercomputing and the Internet are very different areas. And Emeagwali did not contribute to even one of the hundreds of Internet standards, or RFCs (Requests For Comments), that were created in the early decades of the Internet—an open process that anyone could participate in. His supercomputing research was completely unrelated to the Internet.
Emeagwali’s research was thus irrelevant to the evolution of the internet. Emeagwali did his supercomputing experiment in the late 1980s. By then, the “core standards” and protocols for information and data flow on the Internet already existed. And although, improvements have been made to the template since then, Emeagwali did not make any of those improvements and cannot therefore claim credit for them.
Emeagwali's tenuous—and fraudulent—claim to internet fatherhood rests on his assertion that "the Supercomputer is the father of the Internet,” “because both are networks of computers working together.” This, experts agree, is not true, as supercomputing is just one component of the Internet and in fact RELIES ON the rudiments of what we know as the internet to work. So, if anything, the internet concept is the father of supercomputing, not vice versa. But even if we accept Emeagwali’s wrong logic, the fact that he did not invent or pioneer supercomputing means that even on this flawed premise and logic he cannot be considered a father of the internet.
Authentic histories of the internet are accessible all over the web. One can be found here: http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml#SC69. Many people played leading roles in inventing, improving, and constituting the vast technologies, protocols, and ideas that gave birth to and perfected the Internet. It is interesting that none of them is nearly as vocal in claiming that he is a father of the internet as Mr. Emeagwali, who did not contribute to the invention of the internet in any shape or form and in fact relied on the already existing internet to conduct his research. One of the most significant contributors to and pioneers of the internet is Vinton Cerf, who is today a Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google Inc. Other important figures in the development of the Internet include JCR Licklider, Bob Taylor, Paul Baran, Donald Davies, and Lawrence Roberts. If anyone deserves the title of father of the Internet, it is these people. Yet, none of them craves or has appropriated the title. When interviewed about their contribution to the Internet, they often humbly outline their actual contribution, crediting others with other components and shunning the title or insinuation of having fathered the Internet.
The only “history of the internet” source to even recognize Emeagwali as a legitimate computer scientist to be mentioned when chronicling the history of the internet is the book History of the Internet: A Chronology, 1843 to the Present by Christos J. P. Moschovitis, Hilary Poole, Tami Schuyler, Theresa M. Senft. The book was published in 2001. Although Mr. Emeagwali proudly displays the book’s reference to him on his website and claims that the “father of the internet” moniker (which has since been lazily picked up by several media platforms) originated in the book, there is absolutely no such reference in the book. The book’s reference to Emeagwali only states how Emeagwali’s research “effectively stimulate[d] petroleum reserves” by “harnessing the power of parallel computing.” And it is clear from a cursory analysis of the linguistic properties of this specific reference to Emeagwali that Emeagwali himself supplied the material and the claims articulated in it. It is also clear from the reference that it has nothing to do with the internet but is about improving the modeling of oilfields or oil reservoirs. The content and prose are eerily identical to the autobiographical write-ups and claims on Emeagwali.com and on black websites that simply lift and republish Emeagwali’s claims and self-written biography.
The Nobel Prize Of Computing?
Emeagwali’s other claim is that of winning the “Nobel Prize of Computing.” He is, of course, referring to the Gordon Bell Prize, which he won in 1989. Many uninformed observers have since picked up this fraudulent reference, which emanated from Emeagwali.com, and given it wings. The truth is that the Gordon Bell Prize does not come close to the Nobel in status, recognition or prize money and to compare the two prizes is to insult the prestige of the Nobel and grossly exaggerate the Gordon Bell’s importance. The Gordon Bell Prize is, properly speaking, an annual competition that young, driven, engineering upstarts — mostly graduate students — enter. Winners are usually those whose research are innovative and on the cutting edge of new processes in the field. So, on that score, winning the Gordon Bell Prize is a reward for doing research work that is important and solves an application problem at the time that the award is given. But let us put the award in perspective and recognize that it is actually a very minor award in the narrow field of supercomputing and in the larger computing and scientific community. Here is why the Gordon Bell Prize, Emeagwali’s only legitimate achievement, is much less than what he has portrayed it as:
• The cash award for the prize is a mere $1000. Often, the amount of an award is a good guide to its prestige and significance in the field. • Consider the fact that the most prestigious prize in the field of computing (and yet it cannot even be called the Nobel of Computing without insulting the real Nobel) is the Turing Prize, which carries a cash prize of $100,000. • The Gordon Bell is awarded in the narrow subfield of supercomputing, thereby further thinning the applicant pool and reducing the intensity of the competition. • The prize is further subdivided into several categories. Emeagwali won in one of those categories, the price/performance category. The more prestigious overall Peak Performance category was won by the entry submitted by a team from Mobil and TMC. • It is interesting that apart from Emeagwali no other winner(s) of the Gordon Bell annual prize makes noise about winning it or claims to have won “the Nobel Prize of Computing.” They usually go on to do bigger and better research in the field, the Gordon Bell being just a launch pad for future significant work. The public does not even know the other winners because it is a minor prize even in the field of computing. • Finally, and most importantly, Philip Emeagwali only won the prize in the price/performance category by default. His calculation of 3.1 Gflops was the second fastest speed. The fastest speed belonged to the Mobil/TMC team’s entry, whose calculation, according to the official record of the IEEE, which administers the prize (IEEE Software, May 1990, p. 101), bested Emeagwali’s speed. The speed of the Mobil/TMC Team’s solution to the seismic data processing problem was almost twice that of Emeagwali’s at almost 6Gflops. Similarly, and of more relevance for our purpose here, the Mobil/TMC team’s entry achieved the best speed/cost ratio (price-performance) at 500 Mflops per $1 Million, beating out Emeagwali’s entry, whose speed/cost ration was less than 400 Mflops per $1 Million. In fact the prize in the price/performance category was actually awarded to the Mobil/TMC initially. However, because the Mobil TMC team won also won in the overall Peak Performance category and the IEEE’s prize rule does not allow more than one prize per entry, the Mobil/TMC team forfeited their prize in the price/performance category, sticking with the prize for overall Peak Performance, a more significant category. As a result, Emeagwali’s entry, the second placed entry with the second highest speed/cost ratio, was automatically bumped to first place.
For all these reasons, it is the height of self-promotion and delusional exaggeration for Mr. Emeagwali to claim that he won the Nobel Prize of Computing or that the Gordon Bell is regarded as the Nobel of Computing. Nobody except Mr. Emeagwali regards the prize as such.
It is noteworthy that both Emeagwali and the Mobile/TMC Team relied on the CM-2 Machine (the Connection Machine) for their calculations, the same machine that Emeagwali falsely claims to have invented!
Racism Or Laziness?
The case of Philip Emeagwali is a cautionary tale on the pitfalls of self-delusion, laziness, and a sense of entitlement. Mr. Emeagwali enrolled in a doctoral program in Civil Engineering at the University of Michigan in 1987. His coursework over, he took the comprehensive examination that qualifies one for candidacy. He failed the exam twice and did not take it a third time. In the meantime, he conducted the research that would later win him the Gordon Bell Prize, a research he began as a class project for one of his graduate courses. In 1991, two years after winning the Gordon Bell by default, he petitioned the Dean of the School of Engineering to be allowed to submit a dissertation (despite not having passed his candidacy exam and therefore not being a doctoral candidate) in a different department — the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. His request was curiously granted in what was clearly a sidestepping of standard procedure. Emeagwali submitted the dissertation, basically a rework of his entry for the Gordon Bell competition, on July 24, 1992. A team of internal and external evaluators examined it and found it unworthy of a doctorate and turned it down.
PetroDolla2: Crap, you reek of crass stvpidity! A blood sucking demon, an azzhole, a deluded lunatic! You see your country is an asylum filled with lunatics!
hahahahaha your philip sh1t is a fraud? slave, produce evidence that he foundsed sh1t, mugu ediot
The love-vendor has being frustrated by mee. Dangote has the second largest sugar refinery in the world and the largest in Africa. Show mee or tell me who has achieved that in gayna and Africa at large.
PetroDolla2: you, ask me questions? hahahaha how can you ask me questions when you are my slave? hahahaha but slave, I have a very simple question for you,huh? I have heard a lot about sh1tnigeria having lots of baby factories. what exactly are baby factories in your sh1thole? http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/09/08/nigerian-baby-factories-bring-profits-and-pain/ hahahahahaha
You're my number2 slave after sweetcheeks.
Philip emeguali is one of the founders of internet in the world, show me or tell mee who has achieved that feat in gayna and Africa at large
PetroDolla2: a frustrated sh1thead! It wasn’t Ghana’s fault that your dustbin country is a sh1thole,huh? why blame Ghana/Ghanaians for the frustration of being tethered to a failed state? sh1tnigeria we hail oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh I dey laugh ooo roforoforoforofo
The odious love-vendor is yet to get mee properly. I repeat Dangote has the second largest sugar refinery in the world and the largest in Africa. Show mee or tell me who has achieved that in gayna and Africa at large..
PetroDolla2: This is a world crime to humanity also practiced by other parts of Nigeria. In Lagos General Hospitals, human parts are freely sold by mortuary attendants. Also in lagos State General Hospitals, accident victims with their hearts still pumping are suffocated and their hearts and liver and sold to mafias in Europe for $10,000.00 and $12,000.00 respectively T[b]he pure water you all drink in Lagos, especially Lagos mainland, Ikoyi and VI are all freezed in the mortuary of the general hospitals done side by side with corpses.[/b] The attendants buy the pure water in thousands of sacks, freeze them in their mortuary and sell to dealers. This is their private business. Even inside Jankara market, Lagos, human parts are being sold. Some of them get their supplies from the Mortuaries inside Lagos and some are obtained from paid kidnappers who are mainly Alayes and Omoles.
The stupid irritating drunk is spewing jargons
PetroDolla2: This is a world crime to humanity also practiced by other parts of Nigeria. In Lagos General Hospitals, human parts are freely sold by mortuary attendants. Also in lagos State General Hospitals, accident victims with their hearts still pumping are suffocated and their hearts and liver and sold to mafias in Europe for $10,000.00 and $12,000.00 respectively T[b]he pure water you all drink in Lagos, especially Lagos mainland, Ikoyi and VI are all freezed in the mortuary of the general hospitals done side by side with corpses.[/b] The attendants buy the pure water in thousands of sacks, freeze them in their mortuary and sell to dealers. This is their private business. Even inside Jankara market, Lagos, human parts are being sold. Some of them get their supplies from the Mortuaries inside Lagos and some are obtained from paid kidnappers who are mainly Alayes and Omoles.
The stupid irritating drunk is spewing jargons. Answer the questions above or bounce!
The mugger has being frustrated by mee. Dangote has the second largest sugar refinery in the world and the largest in Africa. Show mee or tell me who has achieved that in gayna and Africa at large.
PetroDolla2: hahahahaha develop wetin? hahahahaha have you mumus finished developing your sh1thole? ever heard the expression charity begins from home. hahahah at least Ghana has a city. sh1tnigeria has only a half city
hahahahahahah sh1tnigeria is cursed ediot hahahaha you have oil and gas and yet can't produce electricity for you suffering/smiling animals?
The fool is beginning to speak my language. Philip emeguali is one of the founders of internet in the world, show me or tell mee who has achieved that feat in gayna and Africa at large.
PetroDolla2: hahahahaha I can see that talking rubbish truly is embedded in your DNA. so having 3 nigerians in the brit parliament is an achievement? so how come those guys opted to go to the brit parliament, and not the one in sh1tnigeria? hahahahah won't be surprised ifs you tell me the guy who wipes the Queen's azz is also a mumugerian such inferiority complex
The frustrated burnt offering is beginning to comprehend. And I repeat 'there are 3 Nigerians in the british parliament, show me or rather tell me who has achieved that feat in gayna and Africa at large'.
PetroDolla2: you must be string out on a hallucinogenic drug. you suffering and smiling MUMUs are trooping to Ghana like pilgrims going to Mecca nigeria jagajaga nigeria jagajaga
you're now geTting my points. Now let's go real, there are 3 Nigerians in the british parliament. Tell mee who has achieved that feat in gayna and Africa at large.
PetroDolla2: hahahahaha you are looking for mates? hahahahaha Mr.MUMU, you better be looking at countries like Somalia- another failed state. every african country is making progress except the world's acclaimed sh1thole! boko haram in the north, militants in the SS, robbers, ritualists in the southeast, armed robbers in the SW!
what a sh1thole sh1tnigeria
LoOL you see! You're now getting my points, y'all are our servants. You know our regions, lecture me more about my country.
Gaynaians are our servants. Tell me more about my country. The incestuous fool knows heaven and earth about Nigeria, whilst I don't even know who their number1 citizen is. Who's the famzer here?
PetroDolla2: what is this mumu modafaka saying? of course it is an insult to compare Ghana with sh1tnigeria. you should be comparing your dustbin country with sh1tholes like Somalia,huh? you guys already have a lot in common with somalia. both sh1tholes are the epi centres of piracy around the world. both sh1tholes are failed dustbin countries
In his latest column, government critic and Professor of Creative Writing at Trinity College (USA) Okey Ndibe, voices his disgust at the practice of open defecation in his homeland Nigeria.
If you want to gauge how badly Nigerians have been animalized, then pay attention to how, and where, many of them defecate. Just recently, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that 33 million Nigerians have no access to decent toilets. As a consequence, said the report, these citizens of Africa’s most populous nation answer the call of nature in the open.
Is it really only 33 million Nigerians? One is afraid that here’s one occasion when statisticians have pegged the figure too low. Nigeria – as I wrote three years ago – may be described as one vast toilet. Anybody who has traveled from Lagos to Onitsha by road knows that there isn’t one single rest area with toilet facilities along the route. At stops in Ore or Benin City, pressed passengers must hurry off into the brushes, gingerly skating around others’ feces, in order to relieve themselves.
In Ndibe’s eyes the “habit of doing in public what ought to be done in private” points to a deep cultural crisis.
Long habituated to inhuman conditions, many Nigerians have ceased noticing those peeing or defecating in the open. Or, when we notice, too many of us have lost our sense of outrage at the oddity. Public acts of pissing and defecation have become – more or less – normal, part and parcel of our social experience and landscape.
Open defecation in Oshodi, Lagos, Nigeria. Photo: Kola Aliyu / PM News
The associated health risks of Nigeria’s insanitary conditions have made Ndibe feel uneasy about shaking hands.
For me, it’s often a dilemma. I know how scandalous it would be to refuse to offer one’s hand. Yet, I can’t help wondering where the hands I shake have been, and whether they’ve been washed.
Ndibe retells an revealing anecdote about local government staff who staunchly opposed a plan to build staff toilets. They told the local government administrator to “just give them a share of the public funds – and to leave it up to them to decide on toilet matters”.
Exactly! The british kept all their livestocks in gayna during colonial era. One begins to wonder why gaynaians reason like animals. Y'all are smelly swines!
PetroDolla2: stop talking nonsense, dog. stvpid mumugerian. can Nigayrians employ goats, not to talk of employing Ghanaians? you must be smoking some very bad leaves, mor0n! do you know the unemployment level in your sh1thole? hahahahaha why do you think your youths are now armed robbers, pr0stitutes, yahoo yahoo, ritualists, boko harams, militants, oil bunkerers, pirates, terrorists etc etc etc etc etc
GH^KWAME: Of course na!g We have nothing in common! You guys left Togo and benin and are trooping to Ghana like dogs! No wonder nigeria leads in Bleaching »»» http://m.allafrica.com/stories/201306040711.html/?maneref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fm%3Fq%3Dbleach%2Bcapital%2Bof%2Bafrica%2Bnigeria%2B%26client%3Dms-opera-mini%26channel%3Dnew
GH^KWAME: person! Product of a failed educational system, the research was conducted by the world Bank. You have no problem when the research favours you huh?
Go to hell you frustrated mugger! Who employs ghanaians after graduation? Glo, coscharis, dangote, etc. Now go and get yourself drunk with dog urine.
Celebrities › Re: Picture Of Tee Billz & Tiwa Savage: His Hand On Her Butt by iconize(m): 11:25am On Jan 08, 2014
nigerians are the poison of the world