Prof. Aleksandra Kavcic - Inventor and Philanthropist
The most prestigious law firms and the most prominent names in
the world of science and technology have been trying for years to
challenge intellectual rights to the magnetic disk reader, which is
under the patent of Aleksandar Kavčić, a former student of the
Mathematics High School in Belgrade, and Carnegie Mellon University’s
professor Jose Moura. According to the final judgement of the U.S.
Appellate Court, in 2016, Marvell Technology paid $750 million in
damages.
Aleksandar Kavčić (born 1968) is a former pupil of
Belgrade’s Mathematical High School. He completed four years of studies
at the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering, only
to move abroad – due to the war in this region and other circumstances –
to earn his degree in electrical engineering in Bochum (Germany), and
then to defend his doctorate in the U.S. It was actually this benchmark
doctorate that represented a turning point in Kavčić’s entire life.
“My mentor, Professor Maura encouraged me to try to solve a problem
that I previously had not heard of, although it was known in the
literature from the early ‘80s when serial production of magnetic disks,
so-called disk drives, began.”
When a very thin magnetic layer is
applied to glass, metal or plastic disk, and when closely spaced
electrical impulses are written on it, the process closely resembles
writing on greasy paper in that the ink percolates towards the adjacent
letters. While it was known how to write data on disks, it was unknown
how to optimally read densely written data. Without optimal readers,
densities had to be scaled back, or else readback error rates would have
been unacceptably high.
The proper mathematical analysis of magnetic recording hadn’t
previously been carried out, but that was precisely where the solution
was: to apply proper magnetic recording models to so-called dynamic
programming, which implied relatively complicated mathematics. That’s
why roughly three years passed until the “eureka moment”.
Professor
Maura requested that we summarise the solution such that nothing could
be further eliminated or added to it. When that was done, I was
impatient to publish the result in a professional journal, and then to
turn to something else. “We won’t publish it anywhere,” said the
professor, surprising me with his answer, before explaining that we
should first patent the solution. The patent was accepted and approved
three years later, which is the usual time-frame for such a procedure.
“Our solution became the de facto industry standard that enabled
continuous increases in the capacity of disk drives, which is today
measured in terabytes. I’m convinced that our solution will be used as
long magnetic memories exist. First and foremost, that’s because we’ve
proven mathematically that better detectors are impossible to build.
Amongst other factors, to date, around six billion chips containing our
patented invention have been sold.”
Carnegie Mellon University honoured Kavčić with a privilege rarely
awarded to a scientist, by naming a research fund after the inventors:
the Kavčić-Moura Endowment Fund. Kavčić and Maura, along with their
wives, have personally supported the fund with several million dollars.
One should always go abroad, gather knowledge there, but consider
returning. The electrical engineering faculties in Belgrade or Novi Sad
do not have monopolies on knowledge. It’s rare in America for an
individual to complete his doctoral studies at the same college where he
earned an undergraduate degree. There are only a few professors working
at universities where they earned their doctorates because it is only
with the flow of people that ideas spread and are enriched. Thus, it is
necessary to travel and exchange ideas, especially until Serbia changes
its education system which has long been overdue for a revamp.
Aleksandar Kavčić served as a faculty member (assistant professor,
associate professor and professor) in electrical engineering at Harvard
University and the University of Hawaii.
Završio je Matematičku gimnaziju, a svojoj nekadašnjoj srednjoj školi prošle godine je poklonio 50 računara. Sada se uključio u projekat koji podrazumeva da će fondacija koja nosi njegovo ime svake godine obezbeđivati 20 računara gimnaziji, a ova će računare iz prethodne godine poklanjati osnovnim školama širom Srbije.
- Centralnu ulogu u obrazovanom sistemu imaju nastavnici, a ne ministarstvo prosvete svojim dekretima, naređenjima, preobukama, i sl. Prosvetni radnik je taj koji svako dete stavlja na prvi stepenik društveno-ekonomske lestvice.
Možemo postaviti ambiciozne ciljeve, kao na primer smanjenje broja
predmeta, insistiranje na razumevanju, a ne na bubanju, više projektne
nastave, digitalizaciju, praktično ‚‚Finski model“… ali ko to treba da sprovede u delo?
- Mislim da treba da se okanemo ‚‚čitanja budućnosti”. Niko ne može da predvidi koja će to biti zanimanja budućnosti. Bitno je raditi na fundamentalnom i širokom obrazovanju.
Naučnik, inženjer ili lekar koji je potkovan jakim fundmentalnim znanjem, lako će sebe usmeriti u datom trenutku u budućnosti onako kako to profesija nalaže. Jednako važi i za društvene smerove i kulturu: pravnike, ekonomiste, novinare, pisce, glumce.
- Obrazovanje mora biti besplatno. Potpuno besplatno, na svim nivoima, od vrtića to fakulteta – mislim na ove državne. Srbija je mala zemlja.
Sedam milion je malo da bi se obrazovni sistem prepustio stihiji u nadi
da će se elita ‚‚izroditi” bez velikog ulaganja. Da bismo bili
konkurentni, mi moramo svakom detetu ove zemlje pružiti mogućnost da
dostigne svoj potencijal, a to je jedino moguće ako je školovanje besplatno i kvalitetno.
- Fondacija Alek Kavčić je pre dve godine počela da daruje sredstva Matematičkoj gimnaziji za obnovu računara. Frapantno nam je bilo da ova elitna, svetski poznata institucija nije imala savremene računare.
Kada su u Matematičkoj gimnaziji računari obnovljeni akcijom nas bivših đaka, Fondacija Alek Kavčić je rešila da ih svake godine obnavlja kako nikad više ne bi zastareli. Naravno, to je onda stvorilo višak računara, te se postavilo pitanje šta uraditi sa starijim modelima. Zajedno sa Matematičkom gimnazijom, napravili smo plan da starije modele unapređujemo i poklanjamo osnovnim školama u Srbiji.
Фондација Алек Кавчић основана је у Америци 2017. године. У Србији
почиње са радом почетком 2020. Основни циљеви фондације су промоција
образовања и науке.
Професор из САД финасира бесплатне уџбенике одкупљене од Завода за уџбенике, за ђаке из Србије - Кавчић наводи да ће, рачунајући и уџбенике за стране језике, финансирати
издавање више од сто наслова на којима, у доста случајева, раде и по
два, три аутора којима ће платити хонораре. Открива да израда једног
уџбеника кошта око 5.000 евра и да ће, уз додатне трошкове које има око
издавања, на штампање свих школских књига за све разреде осмолетке
уложити од пола милиона до милион евра.
