Raúl Rojas González (born 1955, in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

) is a Mexican emeritus professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

, and a renowned specialist in

artificial neural networks In machine learning, a neural network (also artificial neural network or neural net, abbreviated ANN or NN) is a computational model inspired by the structure and functions of biological neural networks. A neural network consists of connected ...

. The FU-Fighters, football-playing robots he helped build, were world champions in 2004 and 2005. He is now leading an

autonomous car A self-driving car, also known as an autonomous car (AC), driverless car, robotic car or robo-car, is a car that is capable of operating with reduced or no User input, human input. They are sometimes called robotaxi, robotaxis, though this te ...

project called Spirit of Berlin. He and his team were awarded the Wolfgang von Kempelen Prize for his work on

Konrad Zuse Konrad Ernst Otto Zuse (; ; 22 June 1910 – 18 December 1995) was a German civil engineer, List of pioneers in computer science, pioneering computer scientist, inventor and businessman. His greatest achievement was the world's first programm ...

and the history of

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ('' computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', ...

. Although most of his current research and teaching revolves around

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

and its applications, he holds academic degrees in mathematics and economics. In 2009 the Mexican government created the Raúl Rojas González Prize for scientific achievement by Mexican citizens. The first recipient of the prize was Luis Rafael Herrera Estrella, for contributions to plant biotechnology. He ran for president at the

in 2010.

History

Rojas was born on June 25, 1955, in Mexico City to an engineer and a teacher. He attended university at the

National Polytechnic Institute National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

in Mexico City, where he majored in Mathematics and Physics. He moved to Germany in 1982 as a doctoral student in economics under the guidance of the political economist Elmar Altvater. The resulting dissertation was published under the title "Die Armut der Nationen – Handbuch zur Schuldenkrise von Argentinien bis Zaire" (The poverty of nations – Handbook of debt crisis from Argentina to Zaire). He became a full professor at

University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

in 1994, and later moved to the

, where he remains today in the Informatics department. His wife, Margarita Esponda Argüero, is a professor in the same department.

Prizes

*2001: Gründerpreis Multimedia of the German Ministry of Finance and Technology *2002: European Academic Software Award *2004 and 2005: World champions in football robots with the FU-Fighters *2005: Wolfgang von Kempelen Prize for the History of Informatics *2009: Received the Heberto Castillo gold medal for contributions to science from the Mexico City government *2015: Was named Professor of the year by the Association of German Universities *2015: Received the National Prize of Sciences and Arts by the Mexican Government in the category of Technology and Design

Works

* Available as a fre
e-book
* * * *

References

External links

Homepage of Raúl Rojas at the Free University of BerlinCurriculum vitae of Raúl RojasFU-Fighters football robotsAutonomous car project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rojas, Raul 1955 births Living people National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Instituto Politécnico Nacional alumni Scientists from Mexico City Mexican scientists Academic staff of the Free University of Berlin National Prize for Arts and Sciences (Mexico)