School Of Computer Science 40th Anniversary Celebrations
Date: November 4th 2005
On Friday November 4th 2005 The University of Manchester School of Computer Science celebrated the 40th anniversary of its first intake of undergraduate students. To mark the occasion the School hosted a number of events, both at the University and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, for alumni and local school children from across the region.
The activities, supported by the EPSRC Advanced Processor Technologies Portfolio Partnership, included a programming masterclass for year 12 students and a trip to the museum to see the rebuild of the ‘baby’ (the worlds first stored programme computer) that was designed and built at the School of Computer Science.
Year 8 students, as well as getting to see the ‘baby’, took part in a workshop introducing the basics of Computer Science. This was followed by a presentation on ‘Teaching Computers to See’ by Dr Toby Howard.
As part of the celebrations pupils were joined by Linda Brackenbury, who in 1965 was one of the 28 pupils to first join the School. Linda, who is now a senior lecturer and was originally taught by Tom Kilburn, the inventor of the ‘baby’, was on hand to answer questions from pupils.
Outstanding Alumnus Award
As part of the 40th anniversary celebrations the School was delighted to award Tim Spears (pictures above in slide-1 with Professor Chris Taylor) with an Outstanding Alumnus award. The award is presented each year to alumni who have achieved distinction in their profession; or through exemplary service to the University or the wider community, or through outstanding service of a personal or humanitarian nature. The Awards were initiated in 1996 by the two founding Universities and the recipients include distinguished Alumni from all over the world.