Retired Professor Peter Kugel, a long-time member and former chair of the Computer Science Department who devoted much thought to the human dimension of computer technology, died on October 11. He was 91.
Peter Kugel
Befitting a scholar with a doctorate in philosophy from Harvard University who had worked in the software industry and at MIT before coming to Boston College in 1974, Dr. Kugel focused his research on the connections between human intelligence, logic, and computability. He summed up these interests in an abstract for a 2009 article: “I believe the human mind can evaluate functions so uncomputable that no machine, not even a hypercomputer, can compute them. But I believe that computers can evaluate such functions, too, because computers, like minds, have other ways to evaluate functions that go beyond computing. If we allow them to use these ways—or, as I shall put it, to uncompute—they may be able to do things that only minds can do well today.”
Earlier in his career, Dr. Kugel published an influential article on studying the process of induction—“by which we reason from the particular to the general”—using ideas from the theory of abstract machines and recursion theory. Another article offered suggestions on developing precise accounts of cognitive processes that could be modelled on computers.
He also was interested in how college teachers develop as teachers, and in 1989 published an op-ed piece in The New York Times that explained how bringing a cup of coffee to class helped him create a better rapport with his students.
“My pauses, as I sipped, not only gave my students time to think about what I had said, but gave me time to think about what I was going to say next,” he wrote. “I began to use my pauses to look around the room to see how my students were reacting to what I had just said. When I saw their attention wander, I tried to bring them back. When I saw them puzzled over some concept that I thought I had explained, I gave another example. My lectures became less organized and less brilliant, but my students seemed to understand me better. And my courses became more popular.”
Interviewed in 1989 by the Boston College Biweekly, Dr. Kugel—then the Computer Science chair—discussed how he and his colleagues made sure that the knowledge they passed along to their students was put to use.
“In computer science, you learn to do something by doing. We don’t simply lecture. We give students at least one assignment a week they must complete. And it’s not like doing an essay; a program has to work before your job is done.”
Dr. Kugel retired in 2005, but continued to write, teach, and learn. Among other activities, he took courses at the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement, where he taught a class titled “Vision and Art.”
A tribute posted on the Computer Science website recalled Dr. Kugel for “his wide-ranging interests and for his humor. He was an exceptional colleague and an especially generous mentor to both students and junior faculty colleagues.”
Dr. Kugel is survived by his wife, Judy, and sons Jeremy and Seth, who were all at his bedside when he died.
University Communications | January 2022
University Communications | January 2022