An Honoury Doctor of Engineering was confered upon Calvin Gotlieb during the convocation ceremony on Thursday, November 10, 2011.

Known as the “Father of Computing in Canada,” Dr. Kelly Gotlieb joined the faculty of the University of Toronto in 1945 to develop what is now known as computer science. He taught Canada’s first graduate computer science course and two years later, in 1952, he co-founded the first computer centre in the country.

Dr. Gotlieb was a pioneer, beginning his work when well-established file systems, data structures, databases, and computing methods, algorithms and processes had yet to be developed. Co-authoring High-Speed Data Processing, he introduced basic computer terminology such as “loop” and “in-line.”

When the U of T acquired the first electronic computer in Canada, Dr. Gotlieb led the decision to select the “FERUT” system, a parallel machine with parallel stores, which he correctly considered state-of-the-art compared to the first computer, the UNIVAC, used by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Later in his career, he became the founding chair of the U of T’s Department of Computer Science, which at the time was home to the only computer science doctoral program in Canada. Among other recognition for his accomplishments, Dr. Gotlieb has been inducted into the Canadian Information Productivity Awards Hall of Fame alongside such luminaries as Alexander Graham Bell.