Carl Adam Petri: Ideas, Personality, Impact

240 Pages·2019·6.893 MB·English

by  Wolfgang Reisig, Grzegorz Rozenberg

Wolfgang Reisig
Grzegorz Rozenberg Eds.
Carl Adam Petri:
Ideas, Personality,
Impact
Carl Adam Petri: Ideas, Personality, Impact
Wolfgang Reisig • Grzegorz Rozenberg
Editors
Carl Adam Petri: Ideas,
Personality, Impact
123
Editors
WolfgangReisig GrzegorzRozenberg
Institutfu¨rInformatik LeidenInstituteofAdvancedComputer
Humboldt-Universita¨tzuBerlin Science
Berlin,Germany LeidenUniversity
Leiden,TheNetherlands
ISBN978-3-319-96153-8 ISBN978-3-319-96154-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96154-5
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Preface
This book is a tribute to Carl Adam Petri (1926–2010), a highly original and
visionary computer scientist. He was a pioneer of several key research directions
in computer science and a towering figure in the field of distributed information
processingsystems.TheideasproposedbyPetriwererevolutionaryandmuchahead
oftheirtime;theyconstitutedeep,broad,andlastingcontributionstothefield.
Themultitudeofmodelswhicharebasedontheconceptualframeworkproposed
by Petri are collectively referred to as Petri Nets. Their strength is based on the
combinationofimpressivetheoreticalfoundationswithverybroadandimpressive
applications. In fact, Petri Nets has become a yardstick for other models of
concurrentanddistributedsystems.
Petriwasaninterdisciplinaryscientist,inparticularhewasdeeplyinterestedand
knowledgeable in physics. As a matter of fact, he always stressed that his ideas
originatedin physicsand his goal was to create foundationsof informaticswhich
are rooted in the laws of physics. His broader goal (dream) was to provide net-
theoreticalfoundationsforphysics.
He is perhapsthe best known and most influential German computer scientist.
However,in Germany Petri did not receive the recognitionthat he deserved. This
maybepartiallyexplainablebythefactthathewastotallyuninterestedinthesocial
andpoliticalritualsthat(muchtoo)oftenplayanimportantroleinrecognitionby
theacademicworld.
He was a very modest man with a remarkable personality, a “pure scientist”.
Science was the essence of his life, everything else was a burden imposed upon
him. Conversationswith Petri were fascinating and enriching,as he was a patient
listener while he also passionately and convincinglyargued for his own deep and
originalideas.
CarlAdamPetribecameasourceofinspirationtomany.Thisbookisacollection
ofreflectionsaboutPetriandhisideasbyindividualscientists.Somecontributions
are recollections of his remarkable personality by people who knew him, some
arestoriesofhowPetri’sideasinfluencedvariouspeople’sscientificdevelopments
and careers, while others are more technical expositions (in a style accessible to
a broader audience) of various ideas of Petri. Altogether, these individual stories
v
vi Preface
constituteauniquesourceofinformationaboutCarlAdamPetriandhisideas,and
atouchingtributetoaremarkablescientist.
Ourinvitationstocontributetothisbookwereenthusiasticallyreceived.Weare
grateful to all authors for their contributions and fruitful interactions during the
editing process. We are also thankful to Ronan Nugent from Springer-Verlag for
pleasantandefficientcooperationinproducingthisbook.
Berlin,Germany WolfgangReisig
Leiden,TheNetherlands GrzegorzRozenberg
Boulder,USA
June2018
Contents
PartI PerspectivesonPetri’sWork
DiscoveringPetriNets:APersonalJourney .................................. 3
WilM.P.vanderAalst
ObservationsofaLateralEntrant ............................................. 11
EinarSmith
Nets,CatsandPigs:CarlAdamPetriandHisSlides........................ 17
GiorgioDeMichelis
InventionorDiscovery? ......................................................... 25
KeesM.vanHee
Petri’sUnderstandingofNets................................................... 31
DirkFahland
OntheTwoWorldsofCarlAdamPetri’sNets............................... 37
RüdigerValk
PetriNets:TheNext50Years—AnInvitationandInterpretative
Translation........................................................................ 45
HeinzW.Schmidt
PetriNetsAre(NotOnly)DistributedAutomata............................. 67
DaviddeFrutosEscrig
PetriNets:ASimpleLanguageandToolforModelingComplexIdeas.... 73
RyszardJanicki
PartII PersonalRecollections
CarlAdamPetri:ATributefromAarhus..................................... 81
KurtJensenandMogensNielsen
vii
viii Contents
SomeInteractionswithCarlAdamPetrioverThreeDecades.............. 85
ManuelSilva
PetriNetsandPetri’sNets:APersonalPerspective.......................... 93
MaciejKoutny
CoffeeandCigarettes............................................................ 97
JavierEsparza
EarlyInteractionswithCarlAdamPetri ..................................... 105
BrianRandell
APersonalJourneyinPetriNetResearch .................................... 111
XudongHe
PartIII TechnicalThemes
CarlAdamPetri’sSynchronicDistance....................................... 119
JörgDesel
How Carl Adam PetriDeeply Influenced My Understanding
ofInvarianceandParallelism................................................... 133
GerardMemmi
TowardDistributedComputabilityTheory................................... 141
RobertoGorrieri
PetriInheritance:TheFoundationofNondeterministic,Concurrent
Systems............................................................................ 147
RobertoBruniandUgoMontanari
CoordinatingBehaviour......................................................... 155
EkkartKindler
InductiveCountingandtheReachabilityProblemforPetriNets.......... 161
PeterChiniandRolandMeyer
PartIV ConnectingtoOtherAreas
OnPetriNetsinPerformanceandReliabilityEvaluationofDiscrete
EventDynamicSystems......................................................... 173
GianfrancoBalboandGianfrancoCiardo
ModellingTimeUsingPetriNets............................................... 187
MichelDiaz
AllTrueConcurrencyModelsStartwithPetriNets:APersonal
TributetoCarlAdamPetri..................................................... 193
WojciechPenczek
PetriNetsforBioModelEngineering:APersonalPerspective.............. 205
MonikaHeiner
Contents ix
PetriNetsinSystemsBiology:TransitionInvariants,Maximal
CommonTransitionSets,TransitionClusters,MauritiusMaps,
andMonaLisa .................................................................... 217
InaKoch
FromNetstoCircuitsandfromCircuitstoNets............................. 227
JordiCortadella
LivingLattices.................................................................... 233
AlexYakovlev
TheRoadfromConcurrencytoQuantumLogics............................ 243
LucaBernardinelloandLuciaPomello
Part I
Perspectives on Petri’s Work