University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory
Encyclopedia
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...
department of the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. As of 2007, it employs 35 academic staff, 25 support staff, 35 affiliated research staff, and about 155 research students. The current head of department is Professor Andy Hopper
Andy Hopper
Andrew Hopper CBE FRS FREng FIET is the Professor of Computer Technology and Head of the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.-Research:...
.
The Computer Laboratory built and operated the world’s first practical stored program computer (EDSAC
EDSAC
Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator was an early British computer. The machine, having been inspired by John von Neumann's seminal First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, was constructed by Maurice Wilkes and his team at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory in England...
, 1949) and offered the world’s first taught course in computer science in 1953. It currently offers a 3-year undergraduate course and a 1-year masters course (with an optional natural language processing theme). Recent research has focused on virtualization, security
Information security
Information security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction....
, usability
Usability
Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts with. A usability study may be conducted as a primary job function by a usability analyst or as a secondary job...
, formal verification
Formal verification
In the context of hardware and software systems, formal verification is the act of proving or disproving the correctness of intended algorithms underlying a system with respect to a certain formal specification or property, using formal methods of mathematics .- Usage :Formal verification can be...
, formal semantics of programming languages
Formal semantics of programming languages
In programming language theory, semantics is the field concerned with the rigorous mathematical study of the meaning of programming languages and models of computation...
, computer architecture
Computer architecture
In 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....
, natural language processing
Natural language processing
Natural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages; it began as a branch of artificial intelligence....
, wireless networking, biometric identification, routing
Routing
Routing is the process of selecting paths in a network along which to send network traffic. Routing is performed for many kinds of networks, including the telephone network , electronic data networks , and transportation networks...
, positioning system
Positioning system
A positioning system is a mechanism for determining the location of an object in space. Technologies for this task exist ranging from worldwide coverage with meter accuracy to workspace coverage with sub-millimetre accuracy.- Interplanetary systems :...
s and has achieved the top ratings in recent UK Research Assessment Exercise
Research Assessment Exercise
The Research Assessment Exercise is an exercise undertaken approximately every 5 years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British higher education institutions...
evaluations. A new research focus is sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
(“Computing for the future of the planet”). Members of the Computer Laboratory have been involved in the creation of many successful UK IT
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
companies such as Acorn
Acorn Computers
Acorn Computers Ltd. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England, in 1978. The company produced a number of computers which were especially popular in the UK. These included the Acorn Electron, the BBC Micro, and the Acorn Archimedes...
, ARM, nCipher and XenSource.
History
It was founded as the Mathematical Laboratory under the leadership of John Lennard-JonesJohn Lennard-Jones
Sir John Edward Lennard-Jones KBE, FRS was a mathematician who was a professor of theoretical physics at Bristol University, and then of theoretical science at Cambridge University...
on 14 May 1937, though it did not get properly established until after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Upon its foundation, it was intended to provide a computing service for general use, and to be a centre for the development of computational techniques in the University. The Cambridge Diploma in Computer Science was the world’s first taught course in computing, starting in 1953.
In October 1946, work began under Maurice Wilkes on EDSAC
EDSAC
Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator was an early British computer. The machine, having been inspired by John von Neumann's seminal First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, was constructed by Maurice Wilkes and his team at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory in England...
(Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator), which subsequently became the world’s first fully operational and practical stored program computer when it ran its first program on 6 May 1949. It inspired the world’s first business computer, LEO
LEO computer
The LEO I was the first computer used for commercial business applications. Overseen by Oliver Standingford and Raymond Thompson of J. Lyons and Co., and modelled closely on the Cambridge EDSAC, LEO I ran its first business application in 1951...
. It was replaced by EDSAC 2
EDSAC 2
EDSAC 2 was an early computer, the successor to the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator. It was the first computer to have a microprogrammed control unit and a bit slice hardware architecture....
, the first microcoded and bitsliced computer, in 1958.
In 1961, David F. Hartley developed Autocode
Autocode
Autocode is the name of a family of "simplified coding systems", later called programming languages, devised in the 1950s and 1960s for a series of digital computers at the Universities of Manchester and Cambridge...
, one of the first high-level programming language
High-level programming language
A high-level programming language is a programming language with strong abstraction from the details of the computer. In comparison to low-level programming languages, it may use natural language elements, be easier to use, or be from the specification of the program, making the process of...
s, for EDSAC 2
EDSAC 2
EDSAC 2 was an early computer, the successor to the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator. It was the first computer to have a microprogrammed control unit and a bit slice hardware architecture....
. Also in that year, proposals for Titan
Titan (computer)
Titan was the prototype of the Atlas 2 computer developed by Ferranti and the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory in Cambridge, England...
, based on the Ferranti Atlas
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...
machine, were developed. Titan became fully operational in 1964 and EDSAC 2 was retired the following year. In 1967, a full (‘24/7’) multi-user time-shared service for up to 64 users was inaugurated on Titan.
In 1970, the Mathematical Laboratory was renamed the Computer Laboratory, with separate departments for Teaching and Research and the Computing Service, providing computing services to the university and its colleges. The two did not fully separate until 2001, when the Computer Laboratory moved out to the new William Gates building in West Cambridge
West Cambridge
West Cambridge is a university site to the west of Cambridge city centre in England. As part of the West Cambridge Master Plan, several of the University of Cambridge's departments have relocated to the West Cambridge site from the centre of town due to overcrowding...
, off Madingley Road
Madingley Road
Madingley Road is a major arterial road linking central Cambridge, England with Junction 13 of the M11 motorway. It passes by West Cambridge, a major new site where some University of Cambridge departments are being relocated....
, leaving behind an independent Computing Service.
In 2002, the Computer Laboratory launched the Cambridge Computer Lab Ring
Cambridge Computer Lab Ring
The Cambridge Computer Lab Ring is a not-for-profit independent members' association that campaigns on behalf of Cambridge computer scientists to build the Cambridge community in computing...
, a graduate society named after the Cambridge Ring
Cambridge Ring
The Cambridge Ring was an experimental local area network architecture developed at the Cambridge University Computer Laboratory in the mid-late 1970s and early 1980s. It used a ring topology with a theoretical limit of 255 nodes , around which cycled a fixed number of packets...
network.
Staff
Selected current staff members- Ross Anderson
- Jon CrowcroftJon CrowcroftJon Crowcroft is the Marconi Professor of Communications Systems in the Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge...
- Mike Gordon
- Andy HopperAndy HopperAndrew Hopper CBE FRS FREng FIET is the Professor of Computer Technology and Head of the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.-Research:...
- Markus KuhnMarkus KuhnMarkus G. Kuhn is a German computer scientist, currently teaching and researching at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. A graduate of the University of Erlangen , he received his MSc at Purdue University and PhD at the University of Cambridge...
- Lawrence PaulsonLawrence PaulsonLawrence Charles Paulson is a professor at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and a fellow of Clare College. He lectures courses on the foundations of computer science, logic and proof among others. He is best known for the cornerstone text on the programming language ML, ML for the...
- Martin Richards
- Peter RobinsonPeter Robinson (computer scientist)Peter Robinson is Professor of Computer Technology and Deputy Head of Department at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory in England, where he leads the Rainbow Group working on computer graphics and interaction...
Former staff include
- Andrew D. GordonAndrew D. GordonAndrew D. Gordon is a British computer scientist.Gordon is the co-designer of Spi Calculus , Ambient calculus , and...
- Philip HazelPhilip HazelPhilip Hazel is a computer programmer best known for writing the Exim mail transport agent and the PCRE regular expression library. He was employed by the University of Cambridge Computing Service until he retired at the end of September 2007...
- Robin MilnerRobin MilnerArthur John Robin Gorell Milner FRS FRSE was a prominent British computer scientist.-Life, education and career:...
- Roger NeedhamRoger NeedhamRoger Michael Needham, CBE, FRS, FREng was a British computer scientist.-Early life:He attended Doncaster Grammar School for Boys in Doncaster ....
- Karen Spärck JonesKaren Spärck JonesKaren Spärck Jones FBA was a British computer scientist.Karen Spärck Jones was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England. Her father was Owen Jones, a lecturer in chemistry, and her mother was Ida Spärck, a Norwegian who moved to Britain during World War II...
- David Wheeler
- Maurice Wilkes
- Neil WisemanNeil WisemanNeil Ernest Wiseman was a British computer scientist.Wiseman's pioneering research in computer graphics began in 1965, and resulted in a number of inventions and patents. These included a pen-following screen menu, which anticipated the pop-up menu, and one of the first systems for distributed...
Heads of the Computer Laboratory
- 1949 Maurice Wilkes
- 1980 Roger NeedhamRoger NeedhamRoger Michael Needham, CBE, FRS, FREng was a British computer scientist.-Early life:He attended Doncaster Grammar School for Boys in Doncaster ....
- 1996 Robin MilnerRobin MilnerArthur John Robin Gorell Milner FRS FRSE was a prominent British computer scientist.-Life, education and career:...
- 1999 Ian Leslie
- 2004 Andy HopperAndy HopperAndrew Hopper CBE FRS FREng FIET is the Professor of Computer Technology and Head of the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.-Research:...
Landmark projects and results
- EDSACEDSACElectronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator was an early British computer. The machine, having been inspired by John von Neumann's seminal First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, was constructed by Maurice Wilkes and his team at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory in England...
– world’s first practical stored program electronic computer (1949–1958) - SubroutineSubroutineIn computer science, a subroutine is a portion of code within a larger program that performs a specific task and is relatively independent of the remaining code....
(1951) - OXOOXOOXO was a computer game written for the EDSAC computer in 1952, an implementation of the game known as Noughts and Crosses in the UK, or tic-tac-toe in the United States. It was written by Alexander S. Douglas as an illustration for his Ph.D. thesis on human-computer interaction for the University...
– world’s first video game (1952) - EDSAC 2EDSAC 2EDSAC 2 was an early computer, the successor to the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator. It was the first computer to have a microprogrammed control unit and a bit slice hardware architecture....
(1958–1965) - AutocodeAutocodeAutocode is the name of a family of "simplified coding systems", later called programming languages, devised in the 1950s and 1960s for a series of digital computers at the Universities of Manchester and Cambridge...
– one of the first high-level programming languageHigh-level programming languageA high-level programming language is a programming language with strong abstraction from the details of the computer. In comparison to low-level programming languages, it may use natural language elements, be easier to use, or be from the specification of the program, making the process of...
s (1961) - TitanTitan (computer)Titan was the prototype of the Atlas 2 computer developed by Ferranti and the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory in Cambridge, England...
– early multi-user time-share computer (1964–1973) - PhoenixPhoenix (computer)Phoenix was an IBM mainframe computer at Cambridge University's Computer Laboratory. "Phoenix/MVS" was also the name of the computer's operating system, written in-house by Computer Laboratory members. Its DNS hostname was phx.cam.ac.uk.- Hardware :The Phoenix system was an IBM 370/165...
– IBM 370 with locally developed OS and hardware extensions (1973–1995) - TRIPOSTRIPOSTRIPOS is a computer operating system. Development started in 1976 at the Computer Laboratory of Cambridge University and it was headed by Dr. Martin Richards. The first version appeared in January 1978 and it originally ran on a PDP-11. Later it was ported to the Computer Automation LSI4 and the...
operating system – became later the basis for AmigaDOSAmigaDOSAmigaDOS is the disk operating system of the AmigaOS, which includes file systems, file and directory manipulation, the command-line interface, and file redirection.... - BCPLBCPLBCPL is a procedural, imperative, and structured computer programming language designed by Martin Richards of the University of Cambridge in 1966.- Design :...
programming language – ancestor of CC (programming language)C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system.... - CAP computerCAP computerThe Cambridge CAP computer was the first successful experimental computer that demonstrated the use of security capabilities, both in hardware and software. It was developed at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory in the 1970s...
– hardware support for capability-based securityCapability-based securityCapability-based security is a concept in the design of secure computing systems, one of the existing security models. A capability is a communicable, unforgeable token of authority. It refers to a value that references an object along with an associated set of access rights... - Cambridge RingCambridge RingThe Cambridge Ring was an experimental local area network architecture developed at the Cambridge University Computer Laboratory in the mid-late 1970s and early 1980s. It used a ring topology with a theoretical limit of 255 nodes , around which cycled a fixed number of packets...
– an early local area networkLocal area networkA local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building... - Cambridge Distributed Computing System
- Trojan Room coffee potTrojan Room coffee potThe Trojan Room coffee pot was the inspiration for the world's first webcam. The coffee pot was located in the so-called Trojan Room within the old Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge...
– the world’s first webcamWebcamA webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...
(1993) - Iris recognitionIris recognitionIris recognition is an automated method of biometric identification that uses mathematical pattern-recognition techniques on video images of the irides of an individual's eyes, whose complex random patterns are unique and can be seen from some distance....
– biometric identification with vanishingly small false-accept rate - NemesisNemesis (computing)Nemesis is an operating system designed by the University of Cambridge, the University of Glasgow, the Swedish Institute of Computer Science and Citrix Systems....
– real-time microkernel OS - Active BatActive BatActive Bat is a low-power, wireless indoor location system accurate up to 3 cm. It is based on a principle of trilateration, and relies on multiple ultrasonic receivers embedded in the ceiling and measures time-of-flight to them....
– ultrasonic indoor positioning system - Xen – virtual machine monitor (2003–present)