Corrado Bohm have deeply influenced the development of theoretical computer science.
In Corrado's PhD thesis in 1954 a language, a machine and a compiler were designed together for the first time. No compiler was written in its own language before. The seminal result is nowadays known as the Bohm-Jacopini theorem that has been set as a theoretical basis of structured programming, opening the way to all generations of modern programming languages.
In the 19-sixties, Corrado was one of the first scientists to investigate the link between λ-calculus and theoretical computer science, a fruitful research field which later became established as the foundation of programming language semantics. The Bohm theorem suggested the representation of λ-terms as Bohm trees, widely used in the literature. His work and ideas have been strongly infuential in the domain of lambda calculus and its applications to programming but also, more generally, for the whole field of programming theory. The notable Curry-Curch machine (CuCh) was defined and developed and consitutes one of the eritages of Corrado's work.
On the occasion of his 70-th and 90-th birthday, the international Computer Science community dedicated to Corrado Bohm two volumes of international journals. In 2001 he was awarded in recognition of a distinguished career in theoretical computer science by the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science, EATCS AWARD.
Corrado always worked with an amazing enthusiasm, generosity and curiosity. He was in great love with Science. He was ready, at any moment, to speculate on general scientific problems as well as to discuss highly technical questions. And he was doing research sharing his compelling passion with young students as well with senior researchers.
Corrado has been also a fantastic teacher, many of his students are now successful researchers in prestigious universities and professionals in computer science field.
Corrado Bohm, born 17th of January 1923 in Milano, passed away 23rd of October 2017 in Rome.
