Frederic C. Williams

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Other people". Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Script error: No such module "Template wrapper".Template:Main otherScript error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".

Sir Frederic Calland Williams, Template:Post-nominals[1][2] (26 June 1911 – 11 August 1977),[1][3] known as F.C. Williams or Freddie Williams,[4] was an English engineer, a pioneer in radar and computer technology.[5][6][7][8][9][10]

Education

Williams was born in Romiley, Stockport, and educated at Stockport Grammar School.[1] He gained a scholarship to study engineering at the University of Manchester where he was awarded Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees. He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1936[11] for research carried out as a postgraduate student of Magdalen College, Oxford.[12]

Research and career

Working at the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE), Williams was a substantial contributor during World War II to the development of radar.[13]

In 1946 he was appointed as head of the Electrical Engineering Department of the University of Manchester. There, with Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill, he built the first electronic stored-program digital computer, the Manchester Baby.[13]

Williams is also recognised for his invention of the Williams tube, an early memory device.[13] He supervised the research of his PhD students Richard Grimsdale[14] and Tom Kilburn.[15]

Awards and honours

Williams was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1950. His nomination reads Template:Centered pull quote

Personal life

Williams died in Manchester in 1977, aged 66.

References

Template:Reflist

Template:Authority control


Template:England-engineer-stub

  1. a b c Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  2. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  4. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  6. Anderson David, Delve Janet (2007) Frederic Calland Williams: the Manchester Baby's chief engineer IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 29 (4): 90-102
  7. Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  8. Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  9. Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  10. Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  11. Template:Cite thesis
  12. Template:Who's Who
  13. a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. Template:Cite thesis
  15. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named kilburnphd