The pioneering work of Lillian Schwartz on discovering the artistic potential of technology has been of profound importance over many decades. Beginning in the 1960s, she turned a wide variety of computer hardware and software into novel, exciting works of art. The processes required were often entirely new when Lillian first worked on them. Many of the same ideas are now widely used throughout the art world and in commercial applications.
Throughout this period, her accomplishments have been acknowledged by both the artistic and scientific communities. As Arno Penzias wrote, Lillian Schwartz has played a “pioneering role in establishing computers as a valid and fruitful artistic medium.”
During the period since the late 1960s, I have had the pleasure and privilege to watch, and occasionally participate, in the development of Lillian Schwartz’s pathbreaking explorations of technology and art, at the same time that our own scientific software research was exploring new directions for scientific computing.
Preserving the record of Lillian’s progress and activities for the future is a priceless opportunity for the history of art.

Sincerely yours,
John M. Chambers

1John Chambers is a Fellow in statistics research at Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies. He is the designer of the S language, for which he received the 1998 ACM Software System award for having “forever altered the way people analyze, visualize, and manipulate data”’.