Sylvia Weir (July 1, 1925 – October 13, 2018), born in Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa, was a paediatrician who worked on artificial intelligence.[1] She pioneered the use of robotics in autism therapy. She was associated with the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Edinburgh, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Early life and education
Weir was born in Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa, to parents Rachel Smith and Abraham Leiman, who ran a shop.[2] She studied medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand, graduating with a degree in medicine in 1950. She was a resident in Coronation Hospital, specialising in internal medicine and paediatrics, and worked as a paediatrician in South Africa.[2] She became an activist and protested against apartheid, subsequently leaving South Africa for the UK.
Career
Weir was a medical resident in Scotland, joining the University of Edinburgh in 1974 as a researcher working on artificial intelligence. In 1978, she moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to work with Seymour Papert.[2] Working with MIT and the Technical Education Research Centers, she looked at initiatives to bring computers to education, particularly for exceptional children, such as the physically handicapped, autistic, and those with specific learning disabilities.[2,5]
A pioneer in how robotics can be used for autism therapy, she demonstrated that the communication of a seven-year-old autistic child was catalysed by using a LOGO-programmed remote control device.[3] She looked at the Brookline LOGO Project, a computer-based learning system for people with disabilities, and how children used it in elementary schools.[4] From 1985 to 1986, she held weekly meetings to look at how young people could study fractions.[6] Weir also examined how children with cerebral palsy could use computer-based learning and served as a member of the Cerebral Palsy project, looking at how to maximise spatial and linguistic skills.[7,8] One of the non-verbal students she helped went on to study at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
She met Aaron Motsoaledi and discussed opening the Mathematics, Science and Technology Education College for South African teachers.[2,10] Weir moved back to Pietersburg at the age of 76 and was present for the first graduation of teachers. She established the charity Friends of Mponegele AIDS Orphans (FOMAO) and retired to East Sussex.[9]