She was at the birth of teaching artificial intelligence in the Czech Republic, was one of the first students of the newly established field of Theoretical Cybernetics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University, collaborated with Ivan M. Havel, and together with her husband Petr Štěpánek developed the declarative programming language Prolog. In her scientific career, she followed in the footsteps of her parents, medical doctors, who studied memory and also conducted research on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
When she talks about her latest project, ECDL, which helps to develop digital literacy, energy literally radiates from her. At the Night of Scientists, she dresses dozens of children in an “ageing suit” so they can experience for themselves the difficulties that old age brings.
All this is Olga Štěpánková – a scientist, educator and popularizer who leads the Department of Biomedicine and Assistive Technology at the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics at CTU. She has recently received the Milada Paulová Award for her lifelong contribution to the development of artificial intelligence.
Read a full interview with Olga Štěpánková prepared for Věda, výzkum, inovace.
