Brian Randell

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Brian Randell Brian Randell graduated in Mathematics from Imperial College, London in 1957 and joined the English Electric Company where he led a team that implemented a number of compilers, including the Whetstone KDF9 Algol compiler. From 1964 to 1969 he was with IBM in the United States, mainly at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, working on operating systems, the design of ultra-high speed computers and computing system design methodology. He then became Professor of Computing Science at Newcastle University, where in 1971 he set up the project that initiated research into the possibility of software fault tolerance, and introduced the "recovery block" concept. Subsequent major developments included the Newcastle Connection, and the prototype Distributed Secure System. He has been Principal Investigator on a succession of research projects in reliability and security funded by EPSRC, MoD, and the EU. Another, continuing, research interest has been the history of computing. He has published over three hundred technical papers and reports, and is co-author or editor of seven books. He is now Emeritus Professor of Computing Science, and Senior Research Investigator, at Newcastle University, working on an EPSRC project on failure analysis of complex evolving systems. He is a Fellow of the BCS and the ACM, and was a Member of the Conseil Scientifique of the CNRS, France (2001-5), Chairman of the IEEE John von Neumann Medal Committee (2003-5), and a Member and then Chairman of the ACM A.M. Turing Award Committee (2005-9). He has received a D.Sc. from the University of London, Honorary Doctorates from the University of Rennes, and the Institut National Polytechnique of Toulouse, France, and the IEEE Emanuel R. Piore 2002 Award for his work on computer system dependability. .

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1 Oral History Interview with Brian Randell January 7, 2021 Via Zoom
Oral History Interview with Brian Randell January 7, 2021 Via Zoom Conducted by William Aspray Charles Babbage Institute 1 Abstract Brian Randell tells about his upbringing and his work at English Electric, IBM, and Newcastle University. The primary topic of the interview is his work in the history of computing. He discusses his discovery of the Irish computer pioneer Percy Ludgate, the preparation of his edited volume The Origins of Digital Computers, various lectures he has given on the history of computing, his PhD supervision of Martin Campbell-Kelly, the Computer History Museum, his contribution to the second edition of A Computer Perspective, and his involvement in making public the World War 2 Bletchley Park Colossus code- breaking machines, among other topics. This interview is part of a series of interviews on the early history of the history of computing. Keywords: English Electric, IBM, Newcastle University, Bletchley Park, Martin Campbell-Kelly, Computer History Museum, Jim Horning, Gwen Bell, Gordon Bell, Enigma machine, Curta (calculating device), Charles and Ray Eames, I. Bernard Cohen, Charles Babbage, Percy Ludgate. 2 Aspray: This is an interview on the 7th of January 2021 with Brian Randell. The interviewer is William Aspray. We’re doing this interview via Zoom. Brian, could you briefly talk about when and where you were born, a little bit about your growing up and your interests during that time, all the way through your formal education? Randell: Ok. I was born in 1936 in Cardiff, Wales. Went to school, high school, there. In retrospect, one of the things I missed out then was learning or being taught Welsh.
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Tommy Flowers - Wikipedia
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Facing up to Faults Brian Randell
ReminiscencesReminiscences ofof WhetstoneWhetstone ALGOLALGOL Brian Randell DIKU, 30 September 2010 1 In Summer 1957 I had a vacation job at IBMIBM’s’s offices at 101 Wigmore Street, London These offices housed (and proudly displayed) an IBM 650 – their only computer in the UK DIKU, 30 September 2010 2 IBM 650 – a very successful and easy to program drumdrum-based-based decimal computer DIKU, 30 September 2010 3 In Autumn 1957 Mike Kelly and I arrived (from Imperial College) at English Electric Atomic Power Division, Whetstone, Leicestershire DIKU, 30 September 2010 4 Frank Whittle, inventor of the jet engine – whose Power Jet Company’sCompany’s factory was at Whetstone in WW2 DIKU, 30 September 2010 5 By the 1960s Whetstone was the site of EEEE’s’s Atomic Power Division (APD) and their Mechanical Engineering Laboratory (MEL) DIKU, 30 September 2010 6 In APD analogue computing was (at this time) ““king”king” – and the 15001500-amplifier-amplifier SATURN was being developed DIKU, 30 September 2010 7 We were hired to program nuclear reactor codes for APDAPD’s’s and MEL’sMEL’s first digital computer, a DEUCE DIKU, 30 September 2010 8 DEUCE was based on Pilot ACE, so inherited Alan TuringTuring’s’s cleverclever “optimum”“optimum” programming scheme DIKU, 30 September 2010 9 EASICODEEASICODE • DEUCE was difficult to program (well), and even more difficult to compile for. • Numerous interpreters were produced – and we invented a compromise scheme of “automatic programming” – EASICODE. • We nearly got fired because of it, but its success led to my becoming head of an Automatic Programming Section, with authority to “do something” for the upcoming KDF9.
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An Interview with Edsger W. Dijkstra the Computer Science Luminary, in One of His Last Interviews Before His Death in 2002, Reflects on a Programmer’S Life
viewpoints Vdoi:10.1145/1787234.1787249 Thomas J. Misa, Editor Interview An Interview with edsger W. dijkstra The computer science luminary, in one of his last interviews before his death in 2002, reflects on a programmer’s life. he charles Babbage InstItute holds one of the world’s largest collections of re- search-grade oral history interviews relating to the Thistory of computers, software, and networking. Most of the 350 inter- views have been conducted in the context of specific research projects, which facilitate the interviewer’s ex- tensive preparation and often sug- gest specific lines of questions. Tran- scripts from these oral histories are a key source in understanding the his- tory of computing, since traditional historical sources are frequently in- complete. This interview with pro- gramming pioneer Edsger Dijkstra (1930–2002) was conducted by CBI researcher Phil Frana at Dijkstra’s home in Austin, TX, in August 2001 for a NSF-KDI project on “Building a Future for Software History.” Winner of ACM’s A.M. Turing Award in 1972, Dijkstra is well known for his contributions to computer n I science as well as his colorful assess- ust a ments of the field. His contributions to this magazine continue to enrich exas at t F new generations of computing scien- ty o I tists and practitioners. ers iv We present this interview post- n u e humously on the eighth anniver- Th F sary of Dijkstra’s death at age 72 in August 2002; this interview has been ourtesy o condensed from the complete tran- C ph script, available at http://www.cbi.umn.
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Notices of the American Mathematical Society Is Support, for Carrying out the Work of the Society
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