David S. Touretzky

thumb|David_S._Touretzky David S. Touretzky is a research professor in the Computer Science Department and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mellon University. Quotes I came to Carnegie Mellon in 1978 as a graduate student. The robotics institute started in 1979. I was here from the beginning, but I did not do robotics then. I am slowly trying to learn quantum mechanics. Right now I’m reading Noson Yanofsky and Mirco Mannucci’s Quantum Computing for Computer Scientists, and Manjit Kumar’s Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality. Both are excellent books. I take a constructivist approach to understanding. When I study something, I ask “How could I build this, or how can I build things with this?” This is opposed to, for example, “Where might I observe this in nature?” I also tend to ask right away, One interesting experience I had as a computer scientist occurred when the Motion Picture Association filed a lawsuit to suppress publication of computer code for decrypting DVD movies. I designed a hexapod robot called the Chiara (see photo), which some students of mine have used to do really cool things. One programmed two Chiaras to play chess on a real chessboard. Another got a Chiara to walk up to an electronic keyboard and play Ode to Joy. David S. Touretzky speaks about robotics and his career External links Category:Computer scientists from the United States Category:Academics from the United States Category:Educators from the United States Category:Living people