Alberto O. Mendelzon
Encyclopedia
Alberto O. Mendelzon was an Argentine-Canadian computer scientist who died on June 16, 2005.
Alberto Mendelzon was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He received a Ph.D. degree from Princeton University
in 1979, where his advisor was Jeffrey Ullman
. After that he was a post-doctoral fellow at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center for a year before joining the faculty of the University of Toronto
in 1980.
He was one of the pioneers who helped to lay the foundations of relational databases. His early work on database dependencies has been influential in both the theory and practice of data management. He has made fundamental contributions in the areas of graphical query languages, knowledge-base systems, and on-line analytic processing. His work has provided the foundation for languages used to query the structure of the web.
Mendelzon established some of the earliest results on using the relational data model. Together with his thesis advisor, Jeffrey Ullman
, and fellow Princeton students, including David Maier
and Yeshoshua Sagiv, he co-authored a number of influential papers that laid out the fundamental issues and approaches for relational databases. In a now-famous paper (Maier, Mendelzon and Sagiv, TODS 1979), he introduced the chase, a method for testing implication of data dependencies that is now of widespread use in the database theory
literature. This work has been highly influential: it is used, directly or indirectly, on an everyday basis by people who design databases, and it is used in commercial systems to reason about the consistency and correctness of a data design. New applications of the chase in meta-data management and data exchange are still being discovered.
In the 1980s, Mendelzon began an important line of work on graphical query languages. His work has been called prescient as it began before the World Wide Web
, and nonetheless established many of the scientific principles required for designing languages to query the Web.
More recently, Mendelzon was a central figure in the work on view-based querying. Starting with the innovative LMSS95 paper (Levy, Mendelzon, Sagiv, and Srivastava, PODS 1995) that introduced the problem of answering queries using views, Alberto Mendelzon made several important contributions to the emerging area of view-based modeling and processing.
His research was central to the development of many areas of database research such as database design, semantic query optimization
, graphical query languages, and querying web data. In addition, he also made important contributions to recursive query languages, on-line analytic processing, similarity-based queries, data warehouses and view maintenance, algorithms for computing web page reputations, and indexing of XML
data.
Mendelzon was an active member of both the database theory
and database systems research communities. He served as the PC Chair for ACM PODS
in 1991 and as General Chair in both 1997 and
1998. He served as PC Chair for VLDB
in 1992, and as a member of the SIGMOD
Executive Committee from 1998 to 2001. He was a member of the Royal Society of Canada
.
Alberto Mendelzon was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He received a Ph.D. degree from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 1979, where his advisor was Jeffrey Ullman
Jeffrey Ullman
Jeffrey David Ullman is a renowned computer scientist. His textbooks on compilers , theory of computation , data structures, and databases are regarded as standards in their fields.-Early life & Career:Ullman received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering...
. After that he was a post-doctoral fellow at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center for a year before joining the faculty of the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
in 1980.
He was one of the pioneers who helped to lay the foundations of relational databases. His early work on database dependencies has been influential in both the theory and practice of data management. He has made fundamental contributions in the areas of graphical query languages, knowledge-base systems, and on-line analytic processing. His work has provided the foundation for languages used to query the structure of the web.
Mendelzon established some of the earliest results on using the relational data model. Together with his thesis advisor, Jeffrey Ullman
Jeffrey Ullman
Jeffrey David Ullman is a renowned computer scientist. His textbooks on compilers , theory of computation , data structures, and databases are regarded as standards in their fields.-Early life & Career:Ullman received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering...
, and fellow Princeton students, including David Maier
David Maier
David Maier is a professor of computer science at Portland State University.He has been chairman of the program committee of ACM SIGMOD. He also served as an associate editor of ACM Transactions on Database Systems...
and Yeshoshua Sagiv, he co-authored a number of influential papers that laid out the fundamental issues and approaches for relational databases. In a now-famous paper (Maier, Mendelzon and Sagiv, TODS 1979), he introduced the chase, a method for testing implication of data dependencies that is now of widespread use in the database theory
Database theory
Database theory encapsulates a broad range of topics related to the study and research of the theoretical realm of databases and database management systems....
literature. This work has been highly influential: it is used, directly or indirectly, on an everyday basis by people who design databases, and it is used in commercial systems to reason about the consistency and correctness of a data design. New applications of the chase in meta-data management and data exchange are still being discovered.
In the 1980s, Mendelzon began an important line of work on graphical query languages. His work has been called prescient as it began before the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
, and nonetheless established many of the scientific principles required for designing languages to query the Web.
More recently, Mendelzon was a central figure in the work on view-based querying. Starting with the innovative LMSS95 paper (Levy, Mendelzon, Sagiv, and Srivastava, PODS 1995) that introduced the problem of answering queries using views, Alberto Mendelzon made several important contributions to the emerging area of view-based modeling and processing.
His research was central to the development of many areas of database research such as database design, semantic query optimization
Query optimization
Query optimization is a function of many relational database management systems in which multiple query plans for satisfying a query are examined and a good query plan is identified. This may or not be the absolute best strategy because there are many ways of doing plans. There is a trade-off...
, graphical query languages, and querying web data. In addition, he also made important contributions to recursive query languages, on-line analytic processing, similarity-based queries, data warehouses and view maintenance, algorithms for computing web page reputations, and indexing of XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
data.
Mendelzon was an active member of both the database theory
Database theory
Database theory encapsulates a broad range of topics related to the study and research of the theoretical realm of databases and database management systems....
and database systems research communities. He served as the PC Chair for ACM PODS
PODS
PODS may refer to:*PODS *Pipeline Open Data Standard*Plain old data structure*Symposium on Principles of Database Systems, an ACM symposium started in 1982*Palm OS Developer SuitePods may refer to:...
in 1991 and as General Chair in both 1997 and
1998. He served as PC Chair for VLDB
VLDB
VLDB is an annual conference held by the non-profit Very Large Data Base Endowment Inc.. The mission of VLDB is to promote and exchange scholarly work in databases and related fields throughout the world...
in 1992, and as a member of the SIGMOD
SIGMOD
SIGMOD is the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Management of Data, which specializes in large-scale data management problems and databases....
Executive Committee from 1998 to 2001. He was a member of the Royal Society of Canada
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
.
ACM PODS Mendelzon Test-of-Time Award
The ACM PODS Alberto O. Mendelzon Test-of-Time Award was established in 2007 and was awarded for the first time in 2008. It is awarded every year to a paper or a small number of papers published in the PODS proceedings ten years prior that had the most impact in terms of research, methodology, or transfer to practice over the intervening decade.Footnotes
- David MaierDavid MaierDavid Maier is a professor of computer science at Portland State University.He has been chairman of the program committee of ACM SIGMOD. He also served as an associate editor of ACM Transactions on Database Systems...
, Alberto O. Mendelzon, Yehoshua SagivYehoshua SagivYehoshua Chaim Sagiv is a computer scientist and professor of computer science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He obtained his PhD at Princeton University in 1978...
: Testing Implications of Data Dependencies. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 4(4): 455-469 (1979).
- Alon Y. Levy, Alberto O. Mendelzon, Yehoshua SagivYehoshua SagivYehoshua Chaim Sagiv is a computer scientist and professor of computer science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He obtained his PhD at Princeton University in 1978...
, Divesh Srivastava: Answering Queries Using Views. PODS 1995: 95-104.