Catherine G. Wolf

Catherine G. Wolf was a cognitive scientist who spent her career at the fascinating, sometimes frustrating, intersection of people and computers. At IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center for nearly two decades, she wasn't just writing code; she was studying how we think, learn, and collaborate, then designing systems that worked with our natural instincts. Her research delved into areas like artificial intelligence, computer-supported cooperative work, and perceptual user interfaces, resulting in over a hundred papers and several patents. In a profound personal turn, Wolf was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 1997. She transformed from a researcher of human-computer interaction into a power user of its most critical applications. As the disease progressed, she relied on eye-tracking technology to write and communicate, offering invaluable, firsthand insights into accessibility tech. Her later years became an extended, unplanned experiment in the very fields she helped create, demonstrating both the fragility of the human body and the resilience of a curious mind.