MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and Dolphin (character): Difference between pages

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[[Image:Stata Center1.jpg|right|thumb|The Stata Center houses CSAIL and has very unusual architecture.]]

'''Dolphin''' is a [[fictional character]], a [[DC Comics]] [[superheroine]].

'''MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory''', or '''CSAIL''', is an interdisciplinary research laboratory at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], formed on [[July 1]], [[2003]] by the merger of [[MIT Laboratory for Computer Science]] and [[MIT AI Lab|MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]]. CSAIL is the largest such laboratory at MIT, both in terms of the scope of its research and in terms of the number of members. The director of CSAIL is Prof. [[Rodney Brooks]]. CSAIL is housed at the [[Stata Center]], designed by [[Frank Gehry]].

===Research activities===

CSAIL's research activities are organized around a number of semi-autonomous research groups, each of which is headed by one or more [[professor]]s or research scientists. These groups are divided up into seven general areas of research:

* [[Artificial Intelligence]]

* [[Computational biology]]

* [[Computer graphics|Graphics]] and [[Machine vision|Vision]]

* [[Natural language processing|Language]] and [[Machine learning|Learning]]

* [[Theory of computation]]

* [[Robotics]]

* Systems (includes [[computer architecture]], databases, [[distributed system]]s, [[operating system]]s, programming methodology, and [[software engineering]] among others)

In addition, CSAIL hosts the [[World Wide Web Consortium]].

{{Superherobox| <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->

===Famous CSAIL members, affiliates, and alumni===

image=[[Image:Dolphin_comics.jpg]]

(Including members and alumni of CSAIL's predecessor labs.)

|caption=Dolphin in her trademark outfit

|comic_color=background:#8080ff

* [[MacArthur Fellowship|MacArthur Fellows]] [[Tim Berners-Lee]], [[Erik Demaine]], [[Daniela Rus]], [[Peter Shor]] and [[Richard Stallman]]

|character_name=Dolphin

* [[Turing Award]] recipients [[Leonard M. Adleman]], [[Fernando J. Corbato]], [[Butler W. Lampson]], [[John McCarthy (computer scientist)|John McCarthy]], [[Marvin Minsky]], [[Ronald L. Rivest]], and [[Adi Shamir]]

|real_name=Unknown

* Rolf [[Nevanlinna Prize]] recipients [[Madhu Sudan]], [[Peter Shor]]

|publisher=[[DC Comics]]<BR>

* [[Gödel Prize]] Recipients [[Shafi Goldwasser]] (two-time recipient), [[Silvio Micali]], [[Charles Rackoff]], [[Johan Håstad]], [[Peter Shor]], and [[Madhu Sudan]]

|debut=Showcase #79

* [[Grace Murray Hopper Award]] recipients [[Robert Metcalfe]], [[Shafi Goldwasser]], [[Guy L. Steele]], and [[Danny Hillis|W. Daniel Hillis]]

|creators=Jay Scott Pike

* Textbook authors [[Hal Abelson|Harold Abelson]] and [[Gerald Jay Sussman]], [[Thomas H. Cormen]], [[Charles E. Leiserson]], [[Ronald L. Rivest]] and [[Clifford Stein]]

|alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0

* [[Carl Hewitt]] designer of the [[Planner programming language|Planner]] programming language, founder of the [[Actor model]] of concurrent systems, and co-developer of the [[Scientific Community Metaphor]].

|status=

* [[David D. Clark]], former chief protocol architect for the Internet, and co-author with [[Jerome H. Saltzer]] (also a CSAIL member) and [[David P. Reed]] of the influential paper "End-to-End Arguments in Systems Design" (see [[End-to-end principle]])

|alliances=[[Tempest]]

* [[Seymour Papert]], inventor of the [[Logo programming language]]

|previous_alliances= Forgotten Heroes, [[Aquaman]]

* [[Joseph Weizenbaum]], creator of the [[ELIZA]] computer-simulated therapist

|aliases=

* [[Bob Frankston]], developer (with [[Harvard]] [[MBA]] [[Dan Bricklin]]) of [[VisiCalc]], the first computer [[spreadsheet]]

|relatives=[[Tempest]], (husband) Cerdian (son)

* There are several prestigious spinoff companies out of the lab. For a recent list see [http://www.lcs.mit.edu/~tjg/SPINOFFS/ this link ]

|powers= artificially adapted for deep subaquatic life: underwater breathing, superhuman strength, resilience to deep water pressures

|}}

==[[Secret Origins]]==

===See also===

Dolphin (real name unknown) was a very young girl when she fell overboard from a cruise ship ([[Secret Origins]] #50) only to be saved from drowning when a mysterious [[alien]] race abducted her to use as an experimental prototype for a subaquatic humanoid race. In the course of these experiments, she acquired gills, webbed fingers, superhuman strength, resilence to deep water pressures, and a slowed aging process.

*[http://www.csail.mit.edu/ CSAIL's official Web page]

*[[Project MAC]]

When the alien scientists suddenly abandoned the experiment, Dolphin escaped their underwater lab. Oblivious to her former humanity, the [[feral]] young Dolphin scavenged underwater for her livlihood, finding her trademark short blue-jeans and white shirt in a sunken ship. She grew into young womanhood living an isolated, lonely life, until the day the crew of an [[oceanology]] vessel saved her from a near lethal encounter with a [[dolphin]]-killing [[shark]].

The crew of the ship tried to educate and care for the girl they'd dubbed "Dolphin", but her utter lack of contact with either humans or Atlanteans had left her [[mute]]. Though she grew to understand spoken language fairly quickly, the act of speech itself remained beyond her. Then, a young female [[doctor]] on the crew had the bright idea to instruct her in [[American Sign Language|sign language]]. Finally able to communicate, Dolphin explained what she could of herself and her story, and expressed her desire to resume her undersea life. At some point, Dolphin finally mastered spoken language, (especially when she started having contact with the superheroic community) but never lost her shyness and reluctance to speak. She has since been a woman of few words.

[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]

==The Crisis Years==

Dolphin has stayed mostly on the fringes of the superheroic community, although she was a member of the Forgotten Heroes until their dissolution, and fought alongside them during the ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]].''

==Meeting Aquaman==

During the [[Zero Hour (comics)|Zero Hour]] events, she met [[Aquaman]], and took part in the battle against [[Charybdis (DC Comics)|Charybdis]], a villain interested in the aquatic powers of the two heroes. When Charybdis, after robbing Aquaman of his [[telepathic]] powers, stuck Aquaman's hand in a pool of water teeming with [[piranha|piranhas]], the normally passive Dolphin was forced to shoot the madman. She then escorted Aquaman and a wounded [[Aqualad]] back to Atlantis for medical attention.

Afterwards, she became a supporting character in the Aquaman comic book, and soon won the affections of an Aquaman embittered by the loss of his hand. Over time, she came out of her shell, and displayed a more energetic and bubbly, though naive, personality.

In issue #25 of Aquaman volume 3 it was revealed that [[Kordax]], an evil [[merman]] ancestor of Aquaman's, had secretly set Dolphin free from the lab, and used mind control to prompt her to infiltrate the royal court and kill Aquaman as the agent of his revenge on the royal house of Atlantis. The strong-willed Dolphin broke free of his control, and her romantic involvment with the king of Atlantis grew into love.

Dolphin remained Aquaman's lover until [[Mera]], Aquaman's wife, returned from her exile in another dimension called the Netherworld. In the same period, Aqualad, now calling himself [[Aqualad|Tempest]], returned from several years of extradimensional [[magic]] studies with increased powers and confidence, winning Dolphin's heart with a kiss. Though initially taken aback, Aquaman blessed the relationship. Eventually, Dolphin became pregnant by Tempest, and the two were married in an Atlantean ceremony attended by Tempest's second family, the [[Titans (comics)|Titans]].

==Starting a family life==

Dolphin gave birth to a son, whom Aquaman named Cerdian (after Cerdia, a surface nation annexed by Atlantis). The weight of new familial responsibilities initially strained the relationship between Dolphin and Tempest. These tensions came to a head when Dolphin demanded Tempest choose between his duties as a hero and his duties as a father and husband. Tempest complied, and quit the Titans. When Aquaman was exiled for his role in the sinking of Atlantis, the family fell under suspicion as friends of the deposed king. The new sorcerous rulers deemed Dolphin and her family "collaborationists" and put them under house arrest. As of recent issues, this goverment has been overthrown, and Dolphin and her family live happily in a free Atlantis.

[[Category:DC Comics superheroes]]

{{DC-Comics-stub}}