A tribute to Karen Spärck Jones

The 2008 BCS Lovelace Medal lecture was a very special event dedicated to the memory of Karen Spärck Jones who was presented the award just weeks before she died last year. The lecture was delivered by Dr Ann Copestake after tributes to Karen were made by Professor Wendy Hall and Dr David Hartley, both of whom knew Karen very well. 

Watch the video of the lecture here
(Tip: Adjusting the size of your browser window will re-size the video display area)

Macromedia Flash Player is required to view this video.
 

 

Wendy Hall, chair of the BCS women's forum strategic panel, described Karen as "a remarkable woman in science who has influenced a whole generation of researchers and scientists".

Karen was the first woman to have been presented with the Lovelace Medal and was thrilled by the honour. With immense dignity, knowing that she would not live to deliver the lecture which goes with the award, Karen recorded a video lecture, part of which was played at the event. In the video she said: "I would like to say how much I appreciate this recognition. I appreciate the fact that I am the first woman to be awarded the Lovelace Medal." This was important to Karen whose slogan was: "Computing is too important to be left to men."

Following the tributes, BCS president Rachel Burnett read out a letter from Karen's niece, who will collect the award on behalf of Karen at this year's Turing lecture in November. In her letter, her niece described Karen, her aunt the brilliant academic, as "an inspiration to us all in so many ways". She also described how Karen received many messages of congratulations from all over the world just before she died when the news of the Lovelace Medal was announced.

Dr Ann Copestake, who worked alongside Karen at Cambridge University, delivered a well received lecture on computational approaches to natural language semantics. Dr Copestake described illustrative examples of current research in computation semantics relating it to the pioneering work of Karen Spärck Jones, including photos and personal anecdotes of their work together.

Karen Spärck Jones Professor of Emerita of Computers and Information
26 August 1935 - 4 April 2007

• Synopsis
• About Karen Spärck Jones
• 'Natural Language and the Information Layer' lecture
• BCS interview with Karen Spärck Jones