Valedictory oration Prof.dr.ir. Ralph Otten May 23, 2014 Visiting address Den Dolech 2 5612 AZ Eindhoven The Netherlands Postal address P.O.Box 513 5600 MB Eindhoven The Netherlands Tel. +31 40 247 91 11 www.tue.nl/map / Department of Electrical Engineering Breinwaardeforfait Where innovation starts Prof.dr.ir. Ralph H.J.M. Otten was appointed full-time professor of Electronics by Royal Decree in 1986. In March 2000 he became chair of the group Electronic Systems in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology. He will deliver his valedictory oration on Friday, May 23, 2014. His master thesis, written in 1971, was on decomposition of automata using semi-group theory. Numerous contributions to the automation of integrated circuit (chip) design followed. Among them was a novel straight-line representation of planar graphs that opened a whole new field, visibility, and new approaches to graph drawing. A common theme in his research was established with his doctoral thesis (1976): iteration-free design. Next he provided the key behind stepwise refinement in chip design. He not only coined the term floorplan design, but also provided the first efficient optimization algorithms. In 1981 he joined the mathematics department of IBM Research in Yorktown Heights (NY) and became manager of a project aimed at producing fully automatically the masks of a complex chip from a functional description. As a visiting professor at Berkeley he answered to technological developments by introducing wire planning, an iteration-free process to fit a chip design on a given foot print. An elegant framework for the approach can be found in trade-off algebra for preserving optimality. Invitation The Executive Board of Eindhoven University of Technology cordially invites you to attend the valedictory oration of prof.dr.ir. Ralph Otten on Friday, May 23, 2014, at 4.00 PM in the Blauwe Zaal of the Auditorium of the university. The oration concerns ‘Breinwaardeforfait’ After the oration, drinks will be served in the Senaatszaal. All full professors are invited to join the cortège. Please register in advance with the P&P office which organizes all academic ceremonies. T +31 (0)40 247 5940; E [email protected]. About the oration The oration is about his recent design of a minor, in particular the braininspired part. Central is the question what faculties set the human brain apart, and in what sense are they amenable to hardware? Can we solve practical problems that are not tractable for existing systems by implemented ideas from our understanding of the brain? Starting from four fundamental observations in neurobiology an image emerges that reminds us strongly of requirements for very large-scale integration. Can we incorporate emotion in the decision processes? We conclude with the mechanisms of human society. What makes our culture(s), can we derive values (numbers) from it, and how are they used and abused? Prof. C.J. van Duijn Rector Magnificus [email protected] After May 23, 2014, the text of the valedictory oration will be available online at www.tue.nl/lectures.
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