PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Alice Recoque

Also known as Alice Maria Arnaud

Alice Recoque was a French computer scientist whose work spanned computer architecture and artificial intelligence. She joined SEA in 1954, helped design the CAB 500, led the Mitra 15 project, and taught computer science at Isep. At Bull, she directed its AI mission and helped design KOOL; France made her an Officer of the National Order of Merit in 1985. She died in 2021; in 2025, the CEA announced an exascale supercomputer named for her, and in 2026 Femmes & Sciences proposed her name for the Eiffel Tower.

Works
5
Citations
4
h-index
1
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 18 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1950

    Entering ESPCI

    She enters ESPCI in 1950 and specializes in electronics.

  2. 1954–1960

    Designing the CAB 500

    She joins SEA in 1954 and helps design the CAB 500, a desktop mini-computer.

  3. 1960s–1970s

    Teaching at Isep

    She teaches computer science at Isep in the 1960s and 1970s, training many engineers.

  4. 1966–1974

    Leading the Mitra 15

    The CII puts her in charge of the Q0 project, a mini-computer for industrial and scientific uses. Its 1,000th unit ships by the end of 1974 under the Mitra 15 name.

  5. 1985

    Bull's AI mission

    Bull appoints her director of its AI mission in 1985. She helps design KOOL, a language for representing knowledge. France makes her an Officer of the National Order of Merit in August 1985.

  6. 2021

    Her death

    She dies in 2021.

  7. November 2025

    A supercomputer named for her

    In November 2025, EuroHPC and the Jules Verne consortium select Eviden to build the Alice Recoque exascale supercomputer, named in her honor.

  8. January 2026

    A proposed Eiffel Tower listing

    In January 2026, Femmes & Sciences includes her among 72 women scientists whose names it proposes for inscription on the Eiffel Tower.

Career

  1. From 1985BullDirector of its AI mission
  2. 1966–1974International Company for InformaticsProject leader
  3. 1954–1960Society for Electronics and Automation
  4. Higher Institute of Electronics of ParisComputer science teacher

Education

  1. From 1950Higher School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry of the City of Paris

From the biography.

Most-cited works

  1. Survey of Main Trends in Computer Hardware Architecture1980 · IFIP Congress · 2 citations
  2. MITRA 15 — An example of handling peripheral units by specific microprogramming1976 · Euromicro Newsletter · 1 citations
  3. Structure interne des ordinateurs1984 · Traçabilité · 1 citations
  4. Les nouvelles architectures1988 · Traçabilité · 0 citations
  5. Research at CII-HB1979 · Springer eBooks · 0 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 18 October 2026.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 53% of people in our data with a known employment countryOur estimates of where AI careers are concentrated now and how countries’ shares of dated positions changed over time.
  3. 46% of living people in our data with known birth and employment countries work outside their birth countryOur estimate of cross-border careers in AI, from country of birth and the country of each current organization.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionOur estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Alice Recoque yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. RECOQUE Alice - Académie des technologies academie-technologies.fr. Checked 18 October 2026.
  2. Alice Recoque, ancienne professeure à l’Isep, bientôt sur la Tour Eiffel – Isep Alumni isepalumni.fr. Checked 18 October 2026.
  3. Qui a voulu effacer Alice Recoque ? - Société Informatique de France socinfo.fr. Checked 18 October 2026.
  4. Ils ont inventé l’intelligence artificielle : Alice Recoque, la pionnière française que l’histoire a oubliée futura-sciences.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  5. EuroHPC JU et le consortium Jules Verne choisissent Eviden pour construire Alice Recoque, le prochain supercalculateur exascale européen - CEA cea.fr. Checked 18 October 2026.