David Caminer

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(26 June 1915 – 19 June 2008) was a British

computer engineer Computer engineering (CE, CoE, or CpE) is a branch of engineering specialized in developing computer hardware and software. It integrates several fields of electrical engineering, electronics engineering and computer science. Computer engine ...

who helped to develop the world's first business computer,

LEO Leo is the Latin word for lion. It most often refers to: * Leo (constellation), a constellation of stars in the night sky * Leo (astrology), an astrological sign of the zodiac * Leo (given name), a given name in several languages, usually mas ...

(Lyons Electronic Office). He has been called "the world's first corporate electronic systems analyst" and "the world's first software engineer". He carried out the systems analysis and charting for the world's first routine business computer job, thus he is also called "the first business application programmer".

Life and work

Caminer was born David Treisman in the East End of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. His father was killed in action during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. When his mother remarried, he was given his stepfather's surname Caminer. In March 1943 Caminer lost a leg at the

Battle of Mareth The Battle of the Mareth Line or the Battle of Mareth was an attack in the Second World War by the British Eighth Army (General Bernard Montgomery) in Tunisia, against the Mareth Line held by the Italo–German 1st Army (General Giovanni Messe) ...

, whilst serving with the

Green Howards The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment), frequently known as the Yorkshire Regiment until the 1920s, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, in the King's Division. Raised in 1688, it served under variou ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. Caminer worked generally in the area of

operations management Operations management is concerned with designing and controlling the production (economics), production of good (economics), goods and service (economics), services, ensuring that businesses are efficiency, efficient in using resources to meet ...

and

cost accounting Cost accounting is defined by the Institute of Management Accountants as "a systematic set of procedures for recording and reporting measurements of the cost of manufacturing goods and performing services in the aggregate and in detail. It includ ...

. He helped to design, along with

John Pinkerton John Pinkerton (17 February 1758 – 10 March 1826) was a Scottish antiquarian, cartographer, author, numismatist, historian, and early advocate of Germanic peoples, Germanic Supremacism, racial supremacy theory. He was born in Edinburg ...

, the LEO (Lyons Electronic Office), which has been certified by the

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

as the world's first business computer. Caminer joined Lyons & Co. as a management trainee in 1936 and became manager of the Lyons Systems Research Office before concentrating on the computer innovation. He became director of LEO Computers Ltd in 1959 and was subsequently general sales manager of English Electric LEO Marconi, while retaining his responsibility for consultancy and systems implementation. After the merger to form

ICL ICL may refer to: Companies and organizations * Idaho Conservation League, environmental organisation in the United States * Imperial College London, a UK university * Indian Confederation of Labour * Indian Cricket League * Inorganic Chemistry ...

, his posts included the delineation of the systems software requirements for the New Range and director of New Range Market Introduction. He chose to complete his formal career in the field as project director for the implementation of the computer and communications network for the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

, where he developed a computer system for the

European Common Market The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lis ...

. For this work he was appointed to the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1980. As Caminer himself pointed out, the LEO story highlights important characteristics of the history of innovation in computing technology, including the complex roles of government funding and university research; the frequent failure of technically advanced products to enjoy commercial success; the importance for commercial success in business computing of firm-level capabilities in related technologies; and the interaction between organizational and technological change in the adoption of business computing systems. ''The Guardian'': "Thank you for Guy Kewney's piece 'on the 50th anniversary of the first commercial mainframe'."
/ref> In 2001 he presented the second IEE

Pinkerton Lecture The Pinkerton lecture series is held by the Institution of Engineering and Technology in commemoration and honour of John Pinkerton, the pivotal engineer who was involved with designing the UK's first business computer in 1951. The first lecture wa ...

. He died in June 2008, at age 92.Martin, Douglas
"David Caminer, a Pioneer in Computers, Dies at 92".
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.

References

Notes

* *The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Volume 12, Issue 4, December 2003, Pages 265-284 ''LEO Conference 2001'' *David C. Mowery, ''50 Years of business computing: LEO to Linux'', The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Volume 12, Issue 4, December 2003, Pages 295-308 *Ferry, G. (2004). ''A Computer Called LEO: Lyons Tea Shops and the World's First Office Computer''. Hammersmith: Harper Perennial. . *Bird, P.J. (1994). ''LEO: The First Business Computer''. Wokingham: Hasler Publishing Co. .

External links

''Times'' obituary

''The Guardian'' obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caminer, David 1915 births 2008 deaths History of computing in the United Kingdom Officers of the Order of the British Empire British Army personnel of World War II British computer specialists

Life and work

See also

References

Notes

External links