Aberra Molla

Aberra Molla ( _ge. ኣበራ ሞላ, born in 1947) is an Ethiopian veterinarian and writer who computerized the Ge'ez alphabet.

Computer work

Aberra computerized the Ge'ez (ግዕዝ) alphabet, also known as [http://am.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%8C%8D%E1%8B%95%E1%8B%9D Ethiopic] , in the 1980scite web |url=http://www.ethiopianmillennium.com/news.html |title= Dr. Aberra Molla (in popup window at right)|accessdate=2007-09-15 |work= EthiopianMillenium.com] and released the first Ethiopic word processor in that script in 1987.cite web |url= http://www.haileselassiefund.org/Amharic_Language/amharic_language.html|title=Amharic Becomes Official D.C. Government Language |accessdate=2007-09-15 |date=2002-11-04|work= HaileSelassieFund.org|publisher=Haile Selassie I International Development Foundation ] He used MS-DOS by Bill Gates. More recently, he worked towards including Ethiopic, Ethiopic Supplement and Ethiopic Extended, particularly Central Cushitic and Gurage glyphs, in Unicode.cite web |url=http://www.ethiopic.com/Dr._Aberra_Molla_Ethiopic.htm |title=Dr. Aberra Molla |accessdate=2007-09-15 |work= Ethiopic.com|publisher=Ethiopian Computers & Software] Ethiopic, an abjad abugida syllabary, has been in use by numerous Ethiopian languages such as Agew, Amharic, Bilen, Ge'ez, Harari, Me'en, Sebat Bet Gurage, Silt'e, Tigre and Tigrigna. The Bible, complete or in part, has also been published in Ethiopic in most of the above languages and others such as Gedeo, Hadiyya, Kembata, Oromo, Sidamo and Welayta languages since 1513.

Inscriptional records from D`mt (ደኣማት) kingdom in proto-Ge'ez of the Ge'ez alphabet go back to at least 9th century BC (see also South_Arabian_alphabet). The Ge'ez He (ሀ) to Pe (ፐ) order has remained the same for roughly 3,000 years, coinciding with the first and last alphabetic hieroglyphs (or "uniliterals") in the Ancient Egyptian order. [http://www.intelligirldesign.com/paper_gabriella.pdf]

In the Ethiopian Orthodox view, the Book of Enoch (መጽሓፈ ሄኖክ) was written in Ethiopic by Henok Enoch, considered the oldest book in any human language. The original forms of the letters themselves were said to have been invented by the even earlier ancestral figure, Henos.

Veterinary work

Aberra is employed as a supervisory public health veterinarian with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). He has one US (4,501,816) patent and one UK (2,127,963) patent for a fast immunoglobulin field test. He has also researched neonatal immunodeficiency. With his CSU professors, he came up with a system that has continued to save millions of calves annually from losses associated with inadequate acquired passive immunity, particularly hypogammaglobulinemia.

Aberra also made vaccines for many years. In 1988, he wrote the first Amharic ( [http://am.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%8A%A0%E1%88%9B%E1%88%AD%E1%8A%9B ዓማርኛ] ) brochure about AIDS ( [http://am.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%8A%A4%E1%8B%B5%E1%88%B5 ኤድስ] ) based primarily on a similar English publication by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He worked to contain foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom during the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth crisis.

Personal life

Aberra, is married, has three children, and owns a software company, Ethiopian Computers & Software, Inc., in Littleton, Colorado, US.

References

External links

*cite web |url= http://www.ethiopic.com/calendar/ethiopic.htm|title=The Ethiopic Calendar |accessdate=2007-09-15 |author=Aberra Molla|work=Ethiopic.com|publisher=Ethiopian Computers & Software
* [http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1200.pdf Unicode Chart]
* [http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1380.pdf Ethiopic Supplement]
* [http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2D80.pdf Ethiopic Extended]
* [http://www.worldscriptures.org/maps/ Bible Translations]
* Ayele Bekerie, [http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/Writing_Systems/Geez.html Ethiopic Writing System (1997)]
* Thomas Bloor, [http://www.spellingsociety.org/journals/j19/ethiopic.php The Ethiopic Writing System: A Profile (1995)]
* Aberra Molla, [http://www.ethiopic.com/advances.htm Advances Made by Ethiopians in the Computer Technology (1991)]
* Gabriella F. Scelta, [http://www.intelligirldesign.com/paper_gabriella.pdf The Comparative Origin and Usage of the Ge’ez writing system of Ethiopia (2001)]