Ida Holz Bard (born 30 January 1935) is a Uruguayan engineer, computer scientist, professor, and researcher, known as a pioneer in the field of computing and the Internet.[1]
Biography
Coming from a Jewish family of Polish origin, from age 18 to 22 Ida Holz went to Israel, where she was in the army and on a kibbutz.[2]
When she returned to Uruguay, she wanted to study architecture, which she could not do because she worked during the day, and started teaching mathematics at the Instituto de Profesores Artigas [es]. There, her professor of mathematical logic invited her to attend a course offered by the University of the Republic in the computation field.[3]
At the beginning of the 1970s, Holz was part of the first generation of Uruguayan computer science students, trained by the Engineering Faculty [es] of the University of the Republic.[4]
In 1964 she married the artist Anhelo Hernández, dedicated to contemporary painting, and who joined the Torres García Workshop. In 1976 they went into exile in Mexico. During this period, Holz worked in the General Directorate of Economic and Social Policy. Later she worked at that country's National Institute of Statistics. The Mexican government came to offer her the directorship, but she had already decided to return to Uruguay.[5]
Holz is recognized for having opposed a conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1991, at which the United States and Europe imposed their authorities at the Latin American level on the nascent global network.[5]
Under her direction, in 1994 SECIU installed the first Internet node in Uruguay.[7]
In 2013 she was the first Latin American personality (male or female) to enter the Internet Society's Hall of Fame, an initiative that honors people who have been important to the development and strengthening of the Internet.[9][10][11]
The National Postal Administration issued stamps in 2015 of the series "Outstanding Personalities of Uruguay" dedicated to Ida Holz.[13]
In 2017, Holz received a recognition in honor of her career as an Internet pioneer in Uruguay, in the framework of the Ceibal project's tenth anniversary celebration.[14]
One of the so-called "fathers of the Internet", Vint Cerf, when asked if there was a "mother of the Internet", responded:
Yes, there is a mother of the Internet, and her name is Ida Holz.[15]