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10 June 2019 | Story Charlene Stanley | Photo Charl Devenish
4IR Prof Marwala
Prof Tshilidzi Marwala, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg and speaker at the first UFS public event on 4IR awareness (middle), with Prof Corli Witthuhn, UFS Vice-Rector: Research (left), and Tafadza Kachara, member of the UFS 4IR committee.
A computer programmed to play poker and learning by itself how to bluff; an algorithm that predicts whether two countries will ever go to war; machines that detect epilepsy with almost flawless accuracy these are some of the groundbreaking abilities brought about by technologies associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

Addressing the first UFS public event to enhance 4IR awareness, Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg, briefed staff, interested parties and members of the media about recent 4IR developments and their implications.

Prof Marwala is currently a thought leader on the impact of the 4IR on higher education in South Africa as well as the Deputy Chairperson of the national commission appointed by the president to formulate 4IR strategies for South Africa.

Industrial revolution history

He recapped how, during the first industrial revolution, people started to understand how nature worked, ultimately leading to the development of the steam engine.
The second industrial revolution was marked by the development of electromagnetism which led to electrification and mass production, while the third produced computerisation and a rise in digital technology. 

The fourth industrial revolution is characterised by a fusion of technologies that blur the lines between cyber, physical and biological systems. This has led to rapid advances in fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and 3D printing.


Artificial intelligence

Prof Marwala pointed out that, although fears were rife of machines taking over people’s jobs, the flipside of the coin was that dangerous jobs such as fire rescue operations could be carried out by machines without endangering lives.

Artificial intelligence can be employed to prevent bridge and building collapses by monitoring the condition of structures. It can also be used in credit scoring, where machines search for and analyse all the available data on a credit applicant, without having to rely only on the (sometimes fraudulent) information supplied by the credit seeker. 

He emphasised the great need to develop algorithms applicable to our continent, such as translating software that makes provision for the clicks in languages like isiXhosa, and facial recognition software that incorporates data collected in African countries. 


Is Africa ready? 

Responding to a question from an audience member, Prof Marwala indicated that Africa was certainly not ready for the 4IR when it came to the content of teaching curricula and infrastructure.

“As universities, we should not sit back and wait for change. We have the responsibility to lead our societies to have the same experiences as elsewhere in the world,” he concluded.

News Archive

International Year of Crystallography attracts science experts from across the globe
2014-10-13



Video: Discover what Chrystallopgraphy can do for you
Video: Celebrating Crystallography: An Animated Adventure

Summit programme

The third world summit in the International Year of Crystallography (in Africa) will be hosted by the UFS Department of Chemistry here on the Bloemfontein Campus. Prof André Roodt, Head of the Department of Chemistry, was elected as the President of the European Crystallographic Association in 2012. Earlier this year he unveiled the Max von Laue 'Plaque' in Posnan, Poland.

The Pan-African Meeting of the International Year of Crystallography consists of a congress and summit. The details are as follows:

Congress
12–15 October 2014
CR Swart Senate Hall, UFS Bloemfontein Campus

Summit
15–17 October 2014
CR Swart Senate Hall, UFS Bloemfontein Campus
Summit opening: Wednesday 15 October 2014 at 14:00 in the CR Swart Senate Hall

This event will be opened and attended by:
•    the UFS Rector and Vice-Rector – Profs Jonathan Jansen and Corli Witthuhn;
•    the acting Director-General of the Department of Science and Technology – Dr Thomas Auf der Heyde;
•    the acting CEO of the National Research Foundation – Dr Gansen Pillay;
•    the UNESCO Vice-Director for Science Extension – Dr Jean-Paul Ngome-Abiaga (Paris, France);
•    the representative of the Executive Committee for the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) – Prof Santiago Garcia-Granda (Oviedo: Spain);
•    the marketing director of the IUCr – Prof Michele Zema (Pavia, Italy);
•    the President of the European Crystallographic Association (ECA) – Prof André Roodt, who will officially open the summit on Wednesday 15 October 2014 from 14:00–15:30.

Presenters from across Africa and Europe will deliver papers at this event which will be attended by more than 100 delegates from twenty-plus countries, including Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Germany, Russia and India.

Numerous crystallographic research areas will be covered. This includes:
•    powder diffraction,
•    small molecule crystallography,
•    biological crystallography,
•    industrial crystallography,
•    surface crystallography,
as well as techniques such as
•    electron microscopy and
•    synchrotron work.

“At this event we hope to establish an African Crystallographic Association,” said Prof Roodt.

The United Nations declared 2014 as the International Year of Crystallography. It was recently officially opened at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, by the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon.

The International Year of Crystallography celebrates the centennial of the work of Max von Laue and the father and son, William Henry and William Laurence Bragg. More generally, it celebrates what crystallography can do for humanity – which proves to be a significant amount.

 

 


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