Roberto Busa
Encyclopedia
Roberto Busa was an Italian
Jesuit priest and one of the pioneers in the usage of computers for linguistic and literary analysis. He was the author of the Index Thomisticus, a complete lemmatization of the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas and of a few related authors.
, the second of five children, he attended primary school in Bolzano and grammar school in Verona
and in Belluno
. In 1928 he entered the Episcopal Seminary of Belluno, completing high school there, and took the first two-year course of Theology with Albino Luciani, the future Pope John Paul I
. In 1933 he joined the Society of Jesus
, where he got a diploma in Philosophy in 1937 and one in Theology in 1941 and where he was ordained priest in 1940. From 1940 till 1943 he was an auxiliary army chaplain in the National Army and later in the partisan forces. In 1946 he graduated in Philosophy at the Papal Gregorian University of Rome with a degree thesis entitled "The Thomistic Terminology of Interiority", which was published in 1949. He was full professor of Ontology
, Theodicy
and Scientific Methodology and, for some years, a librarian in the "Aloisianum" Faculty of Philosophy of Gallarate
.
, the founder of IBM
, and was able to persuade him to sponsor the Index Thomisticus. The project lasted about 30 years, and eventually produced in the 1970s the 56 printed volumes of the Index Thomisticus. In 1989 a CD-ROM version followed, and a DVD version is underway. In addition, in 2005 a web-based version made its debut, sponsored by the Fundación Tomás de Aquino and CAEL; the design and programming of this version were carried about by E. Alarcón and E. Bernot, in collaboration with Busa. In 2006 the Index Thomisticus Treebank project (directed by Marco Passarotti) started the syntactic annotation of the entire corpus.
(ADHO) awards the "Busa Prize", which honors leaders in the field of humanities computing. The
first Busa Prize was awarded in 1998 to Busa himself. Later winners include:
, and at the Catholic Sacred Heart University in Milan
. He was also working at the LTB project (LTB stands for Bicultural Thomistic Lexicon), which aims at understanding the Latin concepts used by Thomas Aquinas in the terms of contemporary culture.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Jesuit priest and one of the pioneers in the usage of computers for linguistic and literary analysis. He was the author of the Index Thomisticus, a complete lemmatization of the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas and of a few related authors.
Biography
Born in VicenzaVicenza
Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...
, the second of five children, he attended primary school in Bolzano and grammar school in Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
and in Belluno
Belluno
Belluno , is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about 100 kilometres north of Venice, Belluno is the capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomiti's region. With its roughly 37,000 inhabitants, it the largest populated area...
. In 1928 he entered the Episcopal Seminary of Belluno, completing high school there, and took the first two-year course of Theology with Albino Luciani, the future Pope John Paul I
Pope John Paul I
John Paul I , born Albino Luciani, , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and as Sovereign of Vatican City from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal history, resulting in the most recent Year of Three Popes...
. In 1933 he joined the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, where he got a diploma in Philosophy in 1937 and one in Theology in 1941 and where he was ordained priest in 1940. From 1940 till 1943 he was an auxiliary army chaplain in the National Army and later in the partisan forces. In 1946 he graduated in Philosophy at the Papal Gregorian University of Rome with a degree thesis entitled "The Thomistic Terminology of Interiority", which was published in 1949. He was full professor of Ontology
Ontology
Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
, Theodicy
Theodicy
Theodicy is a theological and philosophical study which attempts to prove God's intrinsic or foundational nature of omnibenevolence , omniscience , and omnipotence . Theodicy is usually concerned with the God of the Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, due to the relevant...
and Scientific Methodology and, for some years, a librarian in the "Aloisianum" Faculty of Philosophy of Gallarate
Gallarate
Gallarate is a city and comune of Lombardy, northern Italy, in the Province of Varese. It has a population of some 51,700....
.
The Index Thomisticus
In 1946 he planned the Index Thomisticus, as a tool for performing text searches within the massive corpus of Aquinas's works. In 1949 he met with Thomas J. WatsonThomas J. Watson
Thomas John Watson, Sr. was president of International Business Machines , who oversaw that company's growth into an international force from 1914 to 1956...
, the founder of IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, and was able to persuade him to sponsor the Index Thomisticus. The project lasted about 30 years, and eventually produced in the 1970s the 56 printed volumes of the Index Thomisticus. In 1989 a CD-ROM version followed, and a DVD version is underway. In addition, in 2005 a web-based version made its debut, sponsored by the Fundación Tomás de Aquino and CAEL; the design and programming of this version were carried about by E. Alarcón and E. Bernot, in collaboration with Busa. In 2006 the Index Thomisticus Treebank project (directed by Marco Passarotti) started the syntactic annotation of the entire corpus.
The Busa Prize
The Alliance of Digital Humanities OrganizationsAlliance of Digital Humanities Organizations
The Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations, or ADHO, is a digital humanities umbrella organization formed in 2005 to coordinate the activities of the , the , and the .-History:...
(ADHO) awards the "Busa Prize", which honors leaders in the field of humanities computing. The
first Busa Prize was awarded in 1998 to Busa himself. Later winners include:
- John Burrows (Australia) (presented in 2001, New York, New York, USA)
- Susan Hockey (UK) (presented in 2004, Gothenburg, Sweden)
- Wilhelm Ott (Germany) (2007, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA)
- Joseph Raben (USA) (2010, Kings College London, UK)
Recent projects
Before his death Father Busa had been teaching at the Papal Gregorian University in Rome, at the "Aloisianum" Faculty of Philosophy in GallarateGallarate
Gallarate is a city and comune of Lombardy, northern Italy, in the Province of Varese. It has a population of some 51,700....
, and at the Catholic Sacred Heart University in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. He was also working at the LTB project (LTB stands for Bicultural Thomistic Lexicon), which aims at understanding the Latin concepts used by Thomas Aquinas in the terms of contemporary culture.