A well-known and manysided Estonian scientist Ustus Agur died on his 68th birthday, January 1, 1997. For 47 years he taught computer engineers, worked in research and took part in developing the Estonian terminology on information science. He is the author of over five hundred publications, many of which are pioneering contributions to Estonian science.
Ustus Agur was interested in computers as early as the fifties. He is the author of the first publication on computers in Estonian. In 1951-1978 he worked in the Tallinn Polytechnical Institute where he lectured on general electronics, the basics of information theory, the tools of data processing, computer networks, etc. He published a number of books during these years which include a textbook on programme studies and popular-science work. He wrote twenty-thirty articles on university pedagogics, programme studies, connections between literature, art and cybernetics every year.
A new page was turned in his life when he moved to the Estonian Information Institute, where he worked as a scientific director from 1978-1980 and a director from 1980-1990. During this period, U. Agur wrote articles on automated information services, the effectiveness and quality of information work, the network of information centres and about the role of libraries in the information system.
The institute organised conferences and meetings on the development of the information work in Estonia every year. Ustus Agur pointed out the necessity of creating a complex information system in Estonia. He himself presented a possible scenario for the development of the information society in Estonia.
U. Agur was appointed the managing director of the Information Fund which was founded in 1990. The Fund dealt with preparing standards on information technology, organising conferences and seminars, etc.
The Fund began to compile the the programme for developing informatics in Estonia in 1993. The first version, called "The Estonian Way to the Information Society" was presented to the public in 1994 and was written mainly by U. Agur.
U. Agur devoted the last years of his life to studying the role of libraries in the information system and the technological basis of the information society. He congratulated the editorial board of the electronic journal "Infofoorum" on publishing the first issue in November 1996. Ustus Agur has made a major contribution to creating the technological basis for moving towards an information society and widening our knowledge and understanding of it.
Evi Rannap
Last updated February 17, 1997
sirvir@tpu.ee