Professor Brian Randell

A British computer scientist, and Emeritus Professor at the School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, U.K., he specializes in research in software fault tolerance and dependability, and introduced the "recovery block" concept. He was employed at English Electric from 1957 to 1964 where he was working on compilers. He is particularly known for his work on Algol 60, including the development of a compiler for the English Electric KDF9, an early stack machine. He is a noted authority on the early history of computers prior to 1950. In 1964 he joined IBM, where he worked at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center on high performance computer architectures and also on operating system design methodology. While at IBM, He was involved in the original "NATO Software Engineering conferences" and in the very secret Project Y and then ACS super-computer projects. In May 1969 he became a Professor of Computing Science at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, where he has been working ever since in the area of software fault tolerance and dependability. His main research interests are in the field of "computer science, specifically on system dependability and fault tolerance. His interest in the history of computing was kick-started by coming across the then almost unknown work of Percy Ludgate. This was over thirty years ago, when he was preparing an inaugural lecture, and led on to producing the book "The Origins of Computers". This triggered him to further investigate the Colossus wartime code-breaking machines". He is a member of the Special Interest Group on Computers, Information and Society (SIGCIS) of the Society for the History of Technology CIS, and a founder-member of the Editorial Board of the Annals: the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing journal. He was also a founder-member of IFIP WG2.3 Programming Methodology, and is a founder-member of IFIP WG10.4 about Dependability and Fault Tolerance. He is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (2008). In the 1990s he became involved in a project to improve data networking provisions in the North of England, and to promote their effective use by all sectors of the community. This project resulted in the setting up of NiAA, the Northern Informatics Applications Agency. He served for several years as a member of NiAA's Management Group. He has for many years been one of the leading members of the team of volunteers responsible for GENUKI, the web portal for Genealogy in the United Kingdom and Ireland. He maintains the pages relating to the county of Devon, and has transcribed and made available online many documents of genealogical interest. He has published several articles and books, among which are Algol 60 Implementation. With L. J. Russell, Academic Press, London. 1964 and in 1973, The Origins of Digital Computers: Selected Papers. Ed. Springer-Verlag. Among articles he has published are: "Ludgate's Analytical Machine of 1909", Computer J., 14 (3), pp. 317-26 in 1971; "Software Engineering in 1968", in Proc. of the 4th Int. Conf. on Software Engineering, (Munich), pp. 1-10.