Charles Antony Richard Hoare

In 1976, Andrei invited Edsger Dijkstra and me on a lecture tour of the Soviet Union, visiting Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and Novosibirsk. He was our constant guide and delightful companion — and in addition, he gave an extempore accompanying translation of our lecture into Russian. I had the privilege of understanding both the Russian and the English. His mastery of new technical ideas was immediate, and his choice of appropriate new technical terms in Russian was remarkable. At the end of each lecture he would give an immediate extempore assessment of its significance, with particular reference to Soviet computing science.

On many occasions during my lectures I found that he had explained my own familiar ideas with more clarity and force in Russian than I had managed in English. Sometimes, when Edsger was preparing the ground for introduction of an unfamiliar idea, Andreius translation would falter. But almost immediately he would grasp the entire idea, even before it had emerged, and explain it fully to the audience in Russian. In the next few paragraphs Edsger would explain it carefully in English, but there was no further need to translate.

A man of unbounded energy and understanding and friendship: he has enriched the lives of all who knew him.

Hoare C.A.R., Prof.