Wolfram Computation Meets Knowledge

The Mathematica Story: A Scrapbook

Three Decades of Contributions to Invention, Discovery and Education

Roberto Mina, Mathematica user since 1991

I honestly think that a lot of words are required when speaking of ordinary programs but very few are needed for a masterpiece such as Mathematica. I got in touch with it in 1991 and I was truly impressed by its scope, its logical construction and layout, and its outstanding documentation.

I remember that I had to put some effort in it but, in a few months, to use Mathematica was to me as natural as speaking my mother language. Since then I have used Mathematica extensively both for my professional life (mainly for structural mechanics) and my scientific interests (mainly theoretical physics).

It is the only program on my computer; since Version 3, I have used Mathematica as word processor too. In 2010, I retired but I still use Mathematica every day. I must admit that Mathematica has grown up richer and richer and now I think I know just a tiny fraction of the program, but the ease of use is also greater, and basically when starting a new notebook I start to work as I did 22 years ago!

My hope is just to continue to use this truly outstanding program for many years to come.