Manuel Sadosky

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Manuel Sadosky (April 13, 1914 – June 18, 2005) was an Argentine mathematician, born in Buenos Aires to Jewish Russian immigrants fleeing the pogroms. He is widely considered the father of Computer Science studies in Argentina.

Son of a shoemaker, Sadosky studied at the Mariano Acosta teachers school. Noted novelist Julio Cortazar was his classmate there, and remained a longtime friend.

Sadosky graduated as a Doctor in Physics and Mathematics at the University of Buenos Aires in 1940. He then moved to the Henri Poincaré Institute in Paris to pursue postdoctoral studies on a scholarship granted by the French Government. After another year in Italy, he returned to Argentina, where he faced complicated employment options because of his opposition to the Peronist regime.

After the coup d'etat of 1955, he opted for a position as a professor of the University of Buenos Aires, where he was vice-dean of the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences from 1957 to 1966.

In 1960 he was commissioned to develop the Calculus Institute of the university, home of Clementina, the first Argentine computer for research and education. He directed the institute until 1966, when he resigned in opposition to government intervention in the public universities. Thereafter, he went to Uruguay, finding employment in Montevideo at the Universidad de la República, where he helped to start Computer Studies and to introduce the first research computer in the country. Afterwards, he returned to Argentina.

Facing death threats from the paramilitary organization known as Triple A, he and his family had to flee Argentina in 1974, working in different countries such as Uruguay and Venezuela. With the return of democracy in 1983, president Raúl Alfonsín appointed him as Secretary of State of Science and Technology (until 1989).

Manuel Sadosky was named Illustrious Citizen of the City of Buenos Aires (Ley 1095, 2003-10-02 [1]).