In memory of Erik Sandewall, professor emeritus and founder of IDA 1945-2024

Erik Sandewall, professor emeritus and founder of IDA, has passed away after a short time of illness.


After studies at Uppsala University, the Stanford AI laboratory, and visiting associate at the MIT AI laboratory, Erik Sandewall became Sweden?s first professor in computer science in 1975. In 1983 he founded the Computer Science Department at Linköping University. He was also one of the founders of IJCAI, the International Joint Conference on AI. He is most known for his work on non-monotonic reasoning, reasoning about action and change, and cognitive robotics. He was awarded the IJCAI Donald E. Walker Distinguished Service Award in 2016.


Erik was a uniquely creative, visionary and internationally renowned researcher. In addition to important research contributions in computer science and artificial intelligence, his service to the global AI community, he was also instrumental in the development of higher education in computer science at Linköping University and in Sweden.


Erik is survived by his wife Margareta and their sons Anton and Örjan with families.

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  LiU home to Sweden's first AI professor
  
  
• Erik Sandewall Personal history and CV