Untitled - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

Gli anni ’70 e la Scuola Normale
ABSTRACT
The Author focuses on the role played by the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa during
the 1970s and 1980s in the development of computer applications in archaeology and art
history. The roots of this activity can be traced to the post-war period in the 1950s; these were
years full of constructive optimism which, during the 1960s led to the design and construction
of the CEP (Calcolatrice Elettronica Pisana), to the rst academic Degree in Computer Science
at the University of Pisa, and to the creation of CNUCE (Centro Nazionale Universitario di
Calcolo Elettronico). This latter was founded in order to coordinate the various scientic
and educational activities and support computer-based research also in marginal and newly
established elds. Several important initiatives resulted from the cooperation with the Istituto
Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione, directed by Oreste Ferrari. Computer Science
was introduced at the Scuola Normale Superiore as an approach to the problems related to the
automatic processing of archaeological and art history data and documents, thanks to Paola
Barocchi and the creation of the Centro di Elaborazione Automatica di Dati e Documenti
Storico Artistici, which established important international relationships with the Paul Getty
Foundation, the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti, the
Warburg Institute, etc.
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