“A leader, an innovative man and a reformer”. “A man with impeccable ethical standards, fulfilling and exceeding his academic obligations. “Técnico’s greatest contributor to computer science teaching”.
These were some of the statements heard at Técnico Congress Centre, Alameda campus, on 19th December, on the occasion of José Alves Marques‘ academic jubilee. The professor of computer science was welcomed by friends and colleagues at a ceremony where his academic and professional achievements were remembered. In addition to speeches by several colleagues, José Alves Marques gave the lecture ‘4 paixões e uma reflexão ad-hoc ou talvez não’.
“If there was any doubt about the impact of Professor José Alves Marques on Técnico, on our country and internationally, just look at this amphitheatre”, said Rogério Colaço, president of Técnico, who also thanked José Alves Marques for his career at Técnico over the decades. “He is an example of what an academic should be – and I’m measuring my words carefully”, he added.
José Manuel da Costa Alves Marques’ connection to Instituto Superior Técnico spans several decades until the present day. After completing his PhD in Computer Science at the Grenoble Institute of Technology in 1980, he began working at Técnico the following year. Later, in 1988, he obtained the Habilitation Degree from Técnico. The following year, he was one of the proposers of the Undergraduate Programme in Computer Science and Engineering.
Alves Marques was involved in the creation of several curricular units (UCs), as well as a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) in Operating Systems that focuses on the UC of the same name. He was the first employee of the Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores (INESC), of which he was National Director for Computers and IT between 1990 and 2000. He was also a proposer of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (DEI) in 1997. He was the Head of DEI in its founding year, in 1998, and also 1999-2000, 2005-2006 and 2017-2018.
His career and the memories of colleagues and students
João Pavão Martins, a Técnico professor who also celebrated his academic jubilee this year, stressed “the privilege of having worked for more than 20 years” with professor Alves Marques, who he considers to be “Técnico’s greatest contributor to computer science teaching”.
At another point during the event, the ‘academic descendants’ of Alves Marques at INESC-ID’s Distributed Systems Group were highlighted, starting from the group of six people whose PhDs the professor originally supervised – some of whom have already become professors. By repeating the exercise for each of the students that these professors supervised, an ‘academic family tree’ was produced that now has several ‘great-grandchildren’ teaching and even a ‘great-great-grandchild’.
José Tribolet, a retired Técnico professor, tried to use artificial intelligence to write his speech. “I asked ChatGPT about Alves Marques”, he confessed. “The first answer was ‘The reason for my grey hair is because I’ve been working with Alves Marques since 1980′ [laughs]. Then I switched off ChatGPT [more laughter]”, he added. Then he spoke of Alves Marques’ “pioneering contribution” to “the development and consolidation of the dynamics of technology transfer and technological entrepreneurship in Portugal”.
José Tribolet stressed Alves Marques’ “exemplary” academic career and reinforced the latter’s skills as an engineer – he highlighted his contribution to the first national chips and the digitisation of post offices in the mid-1980s. There was “a quantum leap” thanks to “engineers like Alves Marques”. He also recalled the professor’s involvement with AITEC, “the first incubator [in the country] in the area of Information and Communication Technologies”.
Before giving his lecture, José Alves Marques thanked the audience, the previous speakers and Técnico. His lecture focused on four points – (1) ‘quantum leaps’, referring to the disruptive evolution of technology; (2) ‘developing queues, calling for the use of engineering to solve real problems; (3) ‘creating virtual worlds’, giving the example of the cloud as a unique tool for digitalisation; and (4) ‘creating fictions’, showing the power of organisations as drivers of change. He added that, in his opinion, the term ‘computer engineering’ has become reductive. He argued that ‘digitalisation engineering’ would be more appropriate, since technology is increasingly transforming society.
His lecture ended to the sound of opera, one of his passions, as he projected a compilation of photographs of various moments in his life. Invoking the final moments of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, Alves Marques recalls that Marschallin, one of the main characters, drops a handkerchief on the stage floor before finally leaving the scene with the words “it’s a dream / it can’t be real”. The professor shares the character’s statement, confessing that he felt incredulous with the memories revived by the photographs – memories of a Técnico professor who left his mark, his handkerchief on the stage floor, before the curtain closes.
