This paper is the transcription of the interview to Professor John Westcott made by the author on June the 2nd 2011 at the Imperial College in London. The interview was arranged for the 18th IFAC World Congress to be held in Milan (Italy) in the summer 2011, from August 28th to September the 2nd. As President of that Congress, the author invited John to take part in the historical session of September the 2nd, together with Stephen Kahne, Rudolf Kalman, Manfred Thoma, TiborVamos with thr coordination of Alexander Kurzhanski. These distinguished pioneers of Control Science were asked to report about the early days of IFAC, especially the first IFAC World Congress of Moscow (1960). After some time from the invitation, it became clear that Westcott’s participation would not be possible. Hence the author went to London in order to record a video interview, to be partly presented during that session. In the interview, John offers us his recollections on the IFAC World Congress of 1960. Moreover, his memory goes back to the Heidelberg meeting of 1956, sometimes considered as the “Zero IFAC World Congress”. By the way, at the time of the interview, John was the only living signee of the celebrated "resolution for IFAC" conceived during the Heidelberg meeting.

Interview with Professor John Westcott

BITTANTI, SERGIO
2015-01-01

Abstract

This paper is the transcription of the interview to Professor John Westcott made by the author on June the 2nd 2011 at the Imperial College in London. The interview was arranged for the 18th IFAC World Congress to be held in Milan (Italy) in the summer 2011, from August 28th to September the 2nd. As President of that Congress, the author invited John to take part in the historical session of September the 2nd, together with Stephen Kahne, Rudolf Kalman, Manfred Thoma, TiborVamos with thr coordination of Alexander Kurzhanski. These distinguished pioneers of Control Science were asked to report about the early days of IFAC, especially the first IFAC World Congress of Moscow (1960). After some time from the invitation, it became clear that Westcott’s participation would not be possible. Hence the author went to London in order to record a video interview, to be partly presented during that session. In the interview, John offers us his recollections on the IFAC World Congress of 1960. Moreover, his memory goes back to the Heidelberg meeting of 1956, sometimes considered as the “Zero IFAC World Congress”. By the way, at the time of the interview, John was the only living signee of the celebrated "resolution for IFAC" conceived during the Heidelberg meeting.
2015
AUT
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11311/983130
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