Manchester University School of Computer Science
Encyclopedia
The School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester
is the academic department providing the focus for teaching and research in Computer Science
. The school has its roots in the Computer Group of the Electrical Engineering Department at the Victoria University of Manchester
. The Computer Group was established following Freddie Williams
' move to the Electrical Engineering Department in 1946.
At its formation in 1964, the Department of Computer Science was the first such department in the United Kingdom
. The School was formed from the Department when the Victoria University of Manchester
and UMIST
merged to form the University of Manchester
in 2004.
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
is the academic department providing the focus for teaching and research in Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
. The school has its roots in the Computer Group of the Electrical Engineering Department at the Victoria University of Manchester
Victoria University of Manchester
The Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,...
. The Computer Group was established following Freddie Williams
Frederic Calland Williams
Sir Frederic Calland Williams CBE, FRS , known as 'Freddie Williams', was an English engineer....
' move to the Electrical Engineering Department in 1946.
At its formation in 1964, the Department of Computer Science was the first such department in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The School was formed from the Department when the Victoria University of Manchester
Victoria University of Manchester
The Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,...
and UMIST
UMIST
The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research...
merged to form the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
in 2004.
Achievements
The School/Department is notable for the following achievements:- The world's first stored program digital computer (the Small-Scale Experimental MachineSmall-Scale Experimental MachineThe Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine , nicknamed Baby, was the world's first stored-program computer. It was built at the Victoria University of Manchester by Frederic C...
) - Virtual memoryVirtual memoryIn computing, virtual memory is a memory management technique developed for multitasking kernels. This technique virtualizes a computer architecture's various forms of computer data storage , allowing a program to be designed as though there is only one kind of memory, "virtual" memory, which...
using pagingPagingIn computer operating systems, paging is one of the memory-management schemes by which a computer can store and retrieve data from secondary storage for use in main memory. In the paging memory-management scheme, the operating system retrieves data from secondary storage in same-size blocks called...
(see Atlas ComputerAtlas Computer (Manchester)The Atlas Computer was a joint development between the University of Manchester, Ferranti, and Plessey. The first Atlas, installed at Manchester University and officially commissioned in 1962, was one of the world's first supercomputers, considered to be the most powerful computer in the world at...
) - Manchester encoding
- The AMULET microprocessorAMULET microprocessorAMULET is a series of microprocessors that implement the ARM processor architecture. Developed by the group under the University of Manchester's computer science school , AMULET is unique from other ARM implementations in being an asynchronous microprocessor, not making use of a square wave clock...
series (asynchronous implementations of the ARMARM architectureARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
computer architectureComputer architectureIn computer science and engineering, computer architecture is the practical art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create computers that meet functional, performance and cost goals and the formal modelling of those systems....
)
Notable alumni and staff
- Steve FurberSteve FurberProfessor Stephen Byram Furber CBE, FRS, FREng is the ICL Professor of Computer Engineering at the School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester but is probably best known for his work at Acorn where he was one of the designers of the BBC Micro and the ARM 32-bit RISC...
, current ICL Professor of Computer Engineering - Carole GobleCarole GobleCarole Anne Goble, FREng, FBCS, CITP is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Manchester in the UK. She is Principal Investigator of the myGrid, BioCatalogue and myExperiment projects....
, current Professor of Computer Science - Information Management - Tom KilburnTom KilburnTom Kilburn CBE, FRS was an English engineer. With Freddie Williams he worked on the Williams Tube and the world's first stored-program computer, the Small-Scale Experimental Machine , while working at the University of Manchester.-Computer engineering:Kilburn was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire and...
, first head of the Department of Computer Science - Alan RectorAlan RectorProfessor Alan L. Rector is a Medical Informatician in the University of Manchester School of Computer Science in the UK. He received the B.A. from Pomona College, the M.D...
, current Professor of Medical Informatics - Alan TuringAlan TuringAlan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS , was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a...
was a Reader in the Mathematics DepartmentSchool of Mathematics, University of ManchesterThe School of Mathematics at the University of Manchester is one of the largest mathematics departments in the United Kingdom, with around 80 academic staff and an undergraduate intake of roughly 400 a year and another 200 postgraduate students...
and was deputy director of the computing laboratory. - Freddie WilliamsFrederic Calland WilliamsSir Frederic Calland Williams CBE, FRS , known as 'Freddie Williams', was an English engineer....