Michael David May (born 24 February 1951) is a British

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

working primarily in the fields of computer architecture,

parallel computing Parallel computing is a type of computing, computation in which many calculations or Process (computing), processes are carried out simultaneously. Large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which can then be solved at the same time. ...

and

robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

. He is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

and founder of XMOS Semiconductor, serving until February 2014 as the chief technology officer. May is one of the few individuals who have led the design of a CPU architecture, an

interconnect In telecommunications, interconnection is the physical linking of a carrier's network with equipment or facilities not belonging to that network. The term may refer to a connection between a carrier's facilities and the equipment belonging to its ...

and a modern era

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...

. In addition to his work on parallel-computing microprocessors, he is particularly well known for his work on memory management and compiler development. He was lead architect for the pioneering parallel microprocessr, the

transputer The transputer is a series of pioneering microprocessors from the 1980s, intended for parallel computing. To support this, each transputer had its own integrated memory and serial communication links to exchange data with other transputers. ...

. As of 2024, he holds 56 patents in areas including

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...

s, multi-processing and

communication protocol A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics (computer science), sem ...

Early life and education

May was born in Holmfirth, Yorkshire, England and attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield. From 1969 to 1972, he was a student at King's College, Cambridge,

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, at first studying Mathematics and then Computer Science in the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory, now the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. At Cambridge, May learned computer architecture design from David Wheeler, who worked on EDSAC and pioneered the use of subroutines. He learned compiler writing from Martin Richards, who developed BCPL, the programming language that laid down the foundations for

C (programming language) C (''pronounced'' '' – like the letter c'') is a general-purpose programming language. It was created in the 1970s by Dennis Ritchie and remains very widely used and influential. By design, C's features cleanly reflect the capabilities of ...

Career and research

Academic

May moved to the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

and started research in

. The challenges of implementing sensing and control systems led him to design and implement an early

concurrent programming language Concurrent computing is a form of computing in which several computations are executed ''Concurrency (computer science), concurrently''—during overlapping time periods—instead of ''sequentially—''with one completing before the next starts. ...

, EPL, which ran on a cluster of single-board microcomputers connected by serial communication links. This early work brought him into contact with his long-term collaborator, the influential computer scientist Tony Hoare, and Iann Barron, one of the founders of

Inmos Inmos International plc (trademark INMOS) and two operating subsidiaries, Inmos Limited (UK) and Inmos Corporation (US), was a British semiconductor company founded by Iann Barron, Richard Petritz, and Paul Schroeder in July 1978. Inmos Limited ...

. In 1995, May became Head of the Computer Science Department at the

. He introduced new degree programmes that included entrepreneurial activity, leading to multiple student start-ups, and he was influential in setting up the Bristol Robotics Laboratory. He held the Head of Department post until 2005, when he became co-founder and CTO of a new semiconductor company XMOS. He continues to be a professor at Bristol, working in the areas of computer architecture and

s, particularly with applications to

internet of things Internet of things (IoT) describes devices with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other communication networks. The IoT encompasse ...

and

edge computing Edge computing is a distributed computing model that brings computation and data storage closer to the sources of data. More broadly, it refers to any design that pushes computation physically closer to a user, so as to reduce the Latency (engineer ...

Semiconductor industry and entrepreneurship

Inmos

was formed in 1978 with a £50m investment from the UK government. May joined to work on microcomputer architecture, becoming lead architect of the

: the first microprocessor designed for parallel and

distributed computing Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems, defined as computer systems whose inter-communicating components are located on different networked computers. The components of a distributed system commu ...

. The transputer has been used primarily for massively parallel supercomputing, digital image processing, scientific computing (particularly high energy physics), robotics, as well as military applications. The transputer processor has been used in over 1 billion units worldwide. Alongside the transputer, May designed the associated programming language Occam. This extended his earlier work and was also influenced by Tony Hoare, who was at the time working on CSP and acting as a consultant to Inmos. Occam can be used as a hardware specification language. Working closely with Tony Hoare and the Programming Research Group at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, May introduced formal verification techniques into the design of the T800 floating point unit and the T9000 transputer. These were some of the earliest uses of

formal verification In the context of hardware and software systems, formal verification is the act of proving or disproving the correctness of a system with respect to a certain formal specification or property, using formal methods of mathematics. Formal ver ...

in microprocessor design, involving specifications, correctness preserving transformations and model checking, giving rise to the initial version of the FDR checker developed at Oxford. May initiated the design of one of the first VLSI

packet switch In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of grouping data into short messages in fixed format, i.e. '' packets,'' that are transmitted over a digital network. Packets consist of a header and a payload. Data in the header is used b ...

es, the C104, together with the communications system of the T9000 transputer. May's work is particularly influential in communication and networking. For example, the standard IEEE 1355 derives from the transputer's network interface and underpins SpaceWire, a spacecraft communication network used by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

, ESA, and many others, with applications including the

James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope designed to conduct infrared astronomy. As the largest telescope in space, it is equipped with high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments, allowing it to view objects too old, Lis ...

(JWST). Inmos was acquired by Thorn EMI and then STMicroelectronics, which has become the largest semiconductor company in Europe.

XMOS Semiconductor

In 2005, May co-founded XMOS - a fabless semiconductor company that makes software-defined, customisable silicon for applications in the consumer, industrial and automotive sectors - with Ali Dixon, James Foster, Noel Hurley, and Hitesh MehtaS. It has raised over $60m with investors including Amadeus Capital Partners, Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH, Huawei Technologies, Xilinx Inc, Harbert European Growth Capital and Infineon. May was CTO until 2014 and remains on the advisory board.

Expert and advisory work

May has been involved in a number of additional semiconductor companies; for example, he wrote the original instruction set for Picochip (acquired by Mindspeed Technologies, Inc and subsequently by

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

). May also acts as an Expert Witness in Intellectual Property litigation.

May's law

May's Law states, in reference to

Moore's Law Moore's law is the observation that the Transistor count, number of transistors in an integrated circuit (IC) doubles about every two years. Moore's law is an observation and Forecasting, projection of a historical trend. Rather than a law of ...

Awards and honours

Royal Fellowships

May is a Fellow of The Royal Society, elected in 1991, for his contributions to computer architecture and parallel computing. He is also a Fellow of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

, elected in 2010.

Prizes and honours

May received an Honorary DSc from the

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

in 1990. He was awarded the Clifford Paterson Medal and Prize of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

in 1992, for contributions to the application of physics in an industrial or commercial context.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:May, David Academics of the University of Bristol Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Warwick British computer scientists British chief technology officers Computer designers Computer hardware engineers Formal methods people Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering History of computing in the United Kingdom 1951 births Living people People educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield