Rebeca Cherep de Guber (2 July 1926 – 25 August 2020) was an
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
mathematician,
university professor,
textbook author and 1960s pioneer in the development of
computer science in Argentina.
Gruber died in 2020 from COVID-19.
Biography
Rebeca Cherep was born in
Avellaneda
Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, and is connected ...
, which is a suburb of the city of
Buenos Aires, Argentina. She completed her undergraduate studies at the
National University of La Plata, earned her PhD in mathematics, and taught at the Faculties of Exact and Natural Sciences and Engineering at the
University of Buenos Aires.
She married José Guber, an engineer, and they had at least one child, Rosana Guber.
In 1960 she was part of the group of scientists and teachers who created the Argentine Calculation Society, under the direction of
Manuel Sadosky
Manuel Sadosky (April 13, 1914 – June 18, 2005) was an Argentine mathematician, civil servant and author who was born in Buenos Aires to Jewish Russian immigrants who had fled the pogroms in Europe.Jacovkis, Pablo (2015). "MANUEL SADOSKY Y SU I ...
, with whom, years before, she had written the textbook, ''Elements of Differential and Integral Calculus.''
In the years since its first publication, the text has been widely disseminated among advanced students of science and engineering, and republished many times.
Calculation Institute
The Calculation Institute (IC) of the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences was created around 1959. Rebeca Guber took over as Technical Secretary on June 6, 1960. A few months later, the computer named Clementina, (which was installed in 18 metal cabinets stretching long) became known as the first computer installed for scientific research in Argentina and began its operations at the IC.
About her work there, Guber has recalled:
"After 1955, Manuel adoskybecame a professor of the Analysis I course and I was his head of practical work. When the Calculation Institute was created, Manuel called me to be his chief of operations. It was a very busy and rewarding time. Manuel outlined the policies and I made sure that everything went as planned. He had to handle a group of seventy people."
Guber's work proved to be fundamental in the entire process of installation and development of the famous Clementina.
Rebeca Guber, along with her colleague and friend
Cecilia Berdichevsky
Cecilia Berdichevsky or Berdichevski (née Tuwjasz) (1925 – 2010) was a pioneering Argentinian computer scientist and began her work in 1961 using the first Ferranti Mercury computer in that country.
Biography
She was born Mirjam Tuwjasz , are only two of the female mathematicians who were fundamental to the success of the early development of information science in Argentina.
University closure
In 1966, with Argentina's coup d'etat that removed the president from power and culminated in the
Night of the Long Batons
La Noche de los Bastones Largos ("The Night of the Long Batons") was the violent dislodging of students and teachers from five academic faculties of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), by the Federal Argentine Police, on July 29, 1966. The ac ...
, scientists and researchers massively resigned from institutes and universities. The Calculation Institute of the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences was "practically dismantled." After Rebeca Guber, Juan Ángel Chamero and David Jacovkis resigned their positions there
and under the leadership of Manuel Sadosky, they founded a consultancy firm called Scientific Technical Advisors (ACT), in part to prevent the Institute's lines of research and work from being totally abandoned.
Secretariat of Science and Technology
After the return of Argentinian democracy and the election of president
Raúl Alfonsín at the end of 1983, Guber continued to work with Sadosky when he was named the Nation's Secretariat of Science and Technology.
Legacy
In tribute to her, in the Calculus Institute there is a room that bears her name: Rebeca Cherep de Guber Classroom.
Selected publications
* Rebeca Guber; François Le Lionnais; Néstor Míguez; Luis Antonio Santaló, ''Las grandes corrientes del pensamiento matemático''. Buenos Aires : Editora Universitaria de Buenos Aires, 1962. (in Spanish)
*Sadosky, Manuel; Guber, Rebeca Ch de, ''Elementos de cálculo diferencial e integral,'' Buenos Aires: Alsina, 1982''.'' (in Spanish)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guber, Rebeca
1925 births
2020 deaths
University of Buenos Aires alumni
Argentine mathematicians
Argentine computer scientists
People from Buenos Aires
Computer scientists
Women computer scientists
Argentine women computer scientists
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina