Sylvia Weir

Sylvia Weir (1925–2018) was a paediatrician who worked on artificial intelligence. She pioneered the use of robotics in autism therapy.

Early life and education Weir was born in Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa. Her parents, Rachel Smith and Abraham Leiman, ran a shop. Weir studied medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand, graduating with a degree in medicine in 1950. She worked as a paediatrician in South Africa. She worked with MIT and the Technical Education Research Centers. From 1985 to 1986 she held weekly meetings to look at how young people could study fractions. She looked at how children with cerebral palsy could use computer based learning. One of the non-verbal students she helped went on to study at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

She met Aaron Motsoaledi and discussed opening the Mathematics, Science and Technology Education College for South African teachers.