The Beginning of Computer Science in Argentina and the Calculus Institute, 1957-1970

At the end of 1960, Argentina began to incorporate its first computers and develop computing research projects and training programs. This early period overlapped with an renovation movement, and the most notable efforts to appropriate the new technology were initiated at the universities. Led by mathematician Manuel Sadosky, the most relevant contribution came from the Calculus Institute (Instituto de Cálculo, IC) at the University of Buenos Aires. From 1961 to 1966, equipped with a Ferranti Mercury computer, the IC went through a period of rapid growth, and it was fundamental to creating the first computer science degree program in Latin America. After the country´s coup d´état in 1966, approximately 90 percent of IC´s personnel resigned. Afterward, no institution could match its scientific and professional expertise nor equal its authority and leadership in the field, despite the modernizing rhetoric of the new authorities.