Henry Kucera

Henry Kučera (15 February 1925 – 20 February 2010), born Jindřich Kučera, was a Czech linguist who pioneered corpus linguistics, linguistic software, was a major contributor to the American Heritage Dictionary, and a pioneer in the development of spell checking computer software.

Kučera was born in the former Czechoslovakia in the village of Třebařov (between Pardubice and Olomouc). When the Communists came to power in February 1948, his studies in philosophy and linguistics at Charles University in the Czech capital of Prague were interrupted. He was forced to leave Czechoslovakia in April 1948 when it became clear that his political writings had placed him at risk of detention by the Communist authorities.

Kučera then moved to Allied-occupied Germany where he worked under the supervision of the U.S. CIC (Counterintelligence Corps) for refugee organizations, assisting Czech refugees with relocation programs and preparing passports. It was during this time that he met Pavel Tigrid, who went on to become Kučera's mentor and longtime friend. Following the Velvet Revolution in 1989, Tigrid went on to become the Minister of Culture for Czechoslovakia.

In 1949, he traveled to New York City aboard the USS General C. H. Muir. After receiving his PhD from Harvard University, he taught at the University of Florida at Gainesville for two years. Kučera returned to Harvard in 1969 as a research fellow. The next year, Kučera received an appointment at Brown University where he was promoted to full professor in 1965. He spent the rest of his teaching career there. Kučera retired in 1990 with, among other honors, a black tie retirement party and the publication of a book about his accomplishments, entitled Festschrift.

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