Tom Kilburn

Tom Kilburn
Born	(1921-08-11)11 August 1921 Dewsbury, Yorkshire
Died	Manchester
Nationality	English
Institutions	University of Manchester Telecommunications Research Establishment University of Cambridge
Alma mater	University of Manchester (PhD) University of Cambridge
Thesis	A storage system for use with binary digital computing machines (1948)
Doctoral advisor	Frederic Calland Williams
Known for	Williams-Kilburn tube Manchester Mark 1 Atlas (computer) MU5
Notable awards	Mountbatten Medal (1997) Royal Medal (1978) CBE (1973) FRS (1965)
Spouse	Irene Marsden
Website www.computer50.org/mark1/kilburn.html

Tom Kilburn CBE, FRS (11 August 1921 – 17 January 2001) was an English engineer. With Freddie Williams he worked on the Williams-Kilburn Tube and the world's first stored-program computer, the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM), while working at the University of Manchester.

Education and Research

Kilburn was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, where he attended the Wheelwright Grammar School for Boys. He studied the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, pursuing a course compressed to two years following the outbreak of World War II. On graduation, he was recruited by C.P. Snow for unspecified secret work and found himself on a crash course in electronics before being posted to the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) in Malvern to work on radar under Frederic Calland Williams.

Kilburn's wartime work inspired his enthusiasm for some form of electronic computer. The principal technical barrier to such a development at that time was the lack of any practical means of storage for data and instructions. Kilburn and Williams collaboratively developed a storage device based on a cathode ray tube called Williams-Kilburn tube. A patent was filed in 1946.

In December 1946, Williams took up the chair of electrotechnics at Manchester and recruited Kilburn on secondment from Malvern. The two developed their storage technology and, in 1948, Kilburn put it to a practical test in constructing the Small-Scale Experimental Machine which became the first stored-program computer to run a program, on 21 June 1948.

Kilburn received the degree of Ph.D. for his work at Manchester and had then anticipated a return to Malvern. However, Williams persuaded him to stay to work on the university's collaborative project developing the Ferranti Mark 1, the world's first commercial computer. Over the next three decades, Kilburn led the development of a succession of innovative Manchester computers including Atlas and MU5.

During Kilburn's career at the University of Manchester, Kilburn was instrumental in forming the School of Computer Science in 1964, becoming the first head of the department, and served as Dean of the Faculty of Science (1970–1972) and pro-vice-chancellor of the university (1976–1979).

Awards and Honours

The Kilburn building, home of the School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester is named in honour of Tom Kilburn.

Kilburn received numerous awards including:

• Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1965
• IEEE Computer Society W. Wallace McDowell Award, (1971)
• Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), (1973)
• British Computer Society IT Award, (1973)
• Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society, (1974)
• Royal Medal of the Royal Society, (1978)
• Honorary doctorate of science from the University of Bath (1979)
• IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award, (1982)
• Eckert-Mauchly Award, (1983)
• Mountbatten Medal, (1997)
• Fellow of the Computer History Museum "for his contributions to early computer design including random access digital storage, virtual memory and multiprograming." (2000)
• A building at The University of Manchester, which houses the School of Computer Science, is named "The Kilburn Building" in his honour.

His nomination for the Royal Society reads:

Professor of Computer Engineering in the University of Manchester. He was a pioneer in the engineering realisation of the general purpose electronic digital computer and has made major contributions to the rapid rate of development that has occurred in this field over the past 15 years. His contributions cover the whole range from overall system design to the invention of high speed circuits to meet particular needs. His latest machine, 'Atlas' may well be the most advanced machine currently under construction anywhere in the World.

Personal life

In 1943 Kilburn married Irene Marsden and the couple went on to raise a son and a daughter.

Kilburn habitually holidayed with his family in Blackpool but was always back in time for Manchester United F.C.'s first match of the football season. He retired in 1981 and died in Manchester of pneumonia following abdominal surgery.

References

Academic offices
Preceded by -	Head of the School of Computer Science, University of Manchester 1964–1980	Succeeded by Dai Edwards