Institute of Computer Science
Encyclopedia
The University of London Institute of Computer Science (ICS) was an Institute based in London
in England
. The Institute was founded by the University of London
to support and provide academic research, postgraduate teaching, computer services and network services. It was founded at some point in the 1960s and dissolved in 1974.
[Its status as a pioneer institution serving research, teaching and computing services has not been widely recognised. This entry is only the beginning of a description. The Institute deserves a full history which should preferably be written while many of its staff and graduates are still alive.]
Michael P Barnett, Reader in Information Processing, 1964-1965.
Michael Bernal
Richard A. Buckingham (Director of Institute)
John Buxton
David Cooper
George Coulouris
- moved to Imperial College in 1965 and to QMC in 1971
Andrew Colin
Jean Dollimore
Alan Fairbourn
Peter Higginson (see below Research, Higginson & Kirstein)
Bryan Higman (see below, Research)
Dick Housden
David Howarth
Peter T. Kirstein
Benedict Nixon
Eric Nixon (see Research, Software Firsts Change Ringing, below)
Anthony Ralston (Tony)
John Washbrook
Keith Wolfenden
David Barton - moved to QMC in 1974, became head of Computer Science and Statistics Dept. (now deceased)
Michael Clarke - moved to QMC in 1974, became head of Computer Science and Statistics, (now deceased).
Following the dissolution of the ICS staff moved to a number of other institutions-
Publications by staff and students include –
[In the list below all publications are published papers unless otherwise specified. “Comp J” is the Computer Journal of the British Computer Society
(BCS)] –
- and – numerous early RFC
s (Internet
standards)
Ph.D. degrees were awarded to Barnett's graduate students
To expedite their work, Gerard and Sambles were sent to MIT, to work with Barnett for several months before his return to England, and published several papers with the MIT Cooperative Computing Laboratory as joint affiliation. These included two of the earliest papers that reported the production of built up mathematical formulas, constructed by symbolic calculation, and recorded using computer typesetting software. Gerard and Sambles went on to CERN
to work on the mechanized detection of particle events.
Barnett's work at the Institute focused on exploring the practical problems and social consequences of electronic typesetting.
A number of distinguished software and hardware engineers and scientists taught and supervised the M.Sc. and Ph.D degrees awarded by the Institute (see Staff above). Prominent graduates of the Institute include –
Michael Newman, Professor of Information Systems, Manchester Business School http://www.php.portals.mbs.ac.uk/Default.aspx?TabId=1184, Nick Fiddian, Professor and Head of Department of Computer Science, Cardiff University, http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/staffnews/articles/obituary-professor-nicholas-john-fiddian.html and Gautam Mitra, OptiRisk Systems Ltd, Professor of Computational Optimisation, Brunel University, http://www.optirisk-systems.com/about_team.asp
was an early transistor machine and only three ever existed. A number of pioneering programmes were developed on the ICS Atlas including the CPL1 Compiler, A General Fourier Synthesis Program, A Computer Technique for Optimizing the Sites and Heights of Transmission Line Towers and even a early work in computing for English Change Ringing
. All of these are described in papers under Research above.
When the Institute closed, services were taken over by the University of London Computer Centre
(ULCC)
although ULCC did initially run in parallel with the Atlas service.
The main services were the first UK Arpanet node and Remote Job Entry
(RJE) to the IBM 360/195 at the Rutherford Laboratory in Oxfordshire.
The Arpanet node was the first in Europe and is therefore the first place where what became the Internet was available in Europe.
The RJE using a Digital Equipment Corporation
PDP9 emulating an IBM 1130
(presumably a HASP
workstation) was the first remote user of the 360/195,
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The Institute was founded by the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
to support and provide academic research, postgraduate teaching, computer services and network services. It was founded at some point in the 1960s and dissolved in 1974.
[Its status as a pioneer institution serving research, teaching and computing services has not been widely recognised. This entry is only the beginning of a description. The Institute deserves a full history which should preferably be written while many of its staff and graduates are still alive.]
History
The date of foundation is not clear but the Institute appears to have already existed in 1962 when John Buxton became a lecturer at the Institute. It was dissolved in 1972 and its Director moved to Birkbeck College. Some of the material in this description of the institute is derived from a history of the School of Computer Science & Information System at that collegeStaff
The Institute staff included, at various times –Michael P Barnett, Reader in Information Processing, 1964-1965.
Michael Bernal
Richard A. Buckingham (Director of Institute)
John Buxton
David Cooper
George Coulouris
George Coulouris (computer scientist)
George Coulouris is a British computer scientist and the son of actor George Coulouris. He is an emeritus professor of Queen Mary, University of London and is currently Visiting Professor in Residence at University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and co-author of a...
- moved to Imperial College in 1965 and to QMC in 1971
Andrew Colin
Andrew Colin
Andrew J. T. Colin is a British university professor of computer science. He is a co-inventor of the widely used Binary Tree data structure. Professor Colin has published 12 textbooks on various aspects of Computer Science, some of which have been translated into other languages.Andrew Colin...
Jean Dollimore
Alan Fairbourn
Peter Higginson (see below Research, Higginson & Kirstein)
Bryan Higman (see below, Research)
Dick Housden
David Howarth
Peter T. Kirstein
Peter T. Kirstein
Peter Thomas Kirstein is a British computer scientist, best known for playing a significant role in the creation of the Internet.Born in Germany but brought up in England, he received a B.A. from Cambridge University in 1954, an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University ...
Benedict Nixon
Eric Nixon (see Research, Software Firsts Change Ringing, below)
Anthony Ralston (Tony)
John Washbrook
Keith Wolfenden
David Barton - moved to QMC in 1974, became head of Computer Science and Statistics Dept. (now deceased)
Michael Clarke - moved to QMC in 1974, became head of Computer Science and Statistics, (now deceased).
Following the dissolution of the ICS staff moved to a number of other institutions-
- Birkbeck: Professor/Director of ICS: Dick Buckingham (now deceased)
- QMC: Jean Dollimore, David Barton, Michael Clarke, George Coulouris (via Imperial)
- UCL: Peter Kirstein (now emeritus professor), John Washbrook (now emeritus professor), Peter Higginson
- Imperial College: Dave Howarth (later Professor), Mike Bernal, George Coulouris (later QMC)
- Kings College: Alan Fairbourn
- UEA: Dick Housden - Professor
- Barnett had already returned to the U.S., where he later became a Professor of Library Science at Columbia University, and then Professor of Computer and Information Science at City University of New York.
Research
The Institute conducted research in computer systems and applications.Publications by staff and students include –
[In the list below all publications are published papers unless otherwise specified. “Comp J” is the Computer Journal of the British Computer Society
British Computer Society
The British Computer Society, is a professional body and a learned society that represents those working in Information Technology in the United Kingdom and internationally...
(BCS)] –
- and – numerous early RFC
Request for Comments
In computer network engineering, a Request for Comments is a memorandum published by the Internet Engineering Task Force describing methods, behaviors, research, or innovations applicable to the working of the Internet and Internet-connected systems.Through the Internet Society, engineers and...
s (Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
standards)
- http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0211 RFC211
- http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0402 RFC402
- http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0300 RFC300
- http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0168 RFC168
- http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0329 RFC329
- http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0363 RFC363
Ph.D. degrees were awarded to Barnett's graduate students
- John Michael Gerard, Synthesizing non-linear forms from linear descriptions by syntactic analysis, July 1965.
- Arthur William Charles Sambles, On the mechanization of algebraic manipulation by digital computer, July 1965.
To expedite their work, Gerard and Sambles were sent to MIT, to work with Barnett for several months before his return to England, and published several papers with the MIT Cooperative Computing Laboratory as joint affiliation. These included two of the earliest papers that reported the production of built up mathematical formulas, constructed by symbolic calculation, and recorded using computer typesetting software. Gerard and Sambles went on to CERN
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
to work on the mechanized detection of particle events.
Barnett's work at the Institute focused on exploring the practical problems and social consequences of electronic typesetting.
Teaching
The Master of Science (M.Sc) in Computer Science of the Institute was one of the first courses in the subject. Barnett also ran informal courses, at the Institute and at the London College of Printing, to explain computer typesetting to officials of the trade unions concerned with the printing industry.A number of distinguished software and hardware engineers and scientists taught and supervised the M.Sc. and Ph.D degrees awarded by the Institute (see Staff above). Prominent graduates of the Institute include –
Michael Newman, Professor of Information Systems, Manchester Business School http://www.php.portals.mbs.ac.uk/Default.aspx?TabId=1184, Nick Fiddian, Professor and Head of Department of Computer Science, Cardiff University, http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/staffnews/articles/obituary-professor-nicholas-john-fiddian.html and Gautam Mitra, OptiRisk Systems Ltd, Professor of Computational Optimisation, Brunel University, http://www.optirisk-systems.com/about_team.asp
Computer Services
The Institute provided early mainframe computer services on an Atlas computer, as the University of London Atlas Computing Service. The Atlas Computer (Manchester)Atlas 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...
was an early transistor machine and only three ever existed. A number of pioneering programmes were developed on the ICS Atlas including the CPL1 Compiler, A General Fourier Synthesis Program, A Computer Technique for Optimizing the Sites and Heights of Transmission Line Towers and even a early work in computing for English Change Ringing
Change ringing
Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called "changes". It differs from many other forms of campanology in that no attempt is made to produce a conventional melody....
. All of these are described in papers under Research above.
When the Institute closed, services were taken over by the University of London Computer Centre
University of London Computer Centre
The was founded in 1968, and was the first supercomputer facility established in London for the purpose of scientific and educational research by all of the colleges of the University of London...
(ULCC)
although ULCC did initially run in parallel with the Atlas service.
Networking
The Institute provided batch and interactive communications.The main services were the first UK Arpanet node and Remote Job Entry
Remote Job Entry
Remote job entry is the term used to describe the process of sending jobs to Mainframe computers from remote workstations, and by extension the process of receiving output from mainframe jobs at a remote workstation....
(RJE) to the IBM 360/195 at the Rutherford Laboratory in Oxfordshire.
The Arpanet node was the first in Europe and is therefore the first place where what became the Internet was available in Europe.
The RJE using a Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
PDP9 emulating an IBM 1130
IBM 1130
The IBM 1130 Computing System was introduced in 1965. It was IBM's least-expensive computer to date, and was aimed at price-sensitive, computing-intensive technical markets like education and engineering. It succeeded the IBM 1620 in that market segment. The IBM 1800 was a process control variant...
(presumably a HASP
HASP
HASP can refer to:*Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan*Hardware Against Software Piracy, a type of dongle*Houston Automatic Spooling Priority a system program for IBM System/360 and IBM System/370 mainframe computer systems*Aladdin HASP Dongles...
workstation) was the first remote user of the 360/195,