Derick Wood (1940–2010) was an English

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 ...

who worked for many years as a professor of computer science in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. He was known for his research in

automata theory Automata theory is the study of abstract machines and automata, as well as the computational problems that can be solved using them. It is a theory in theoretical computer science with close connections to cognitive science and mathematical l ...

and

formal language In logic, mathematics, computer science, and linguistics, a formal language is a set of strings whose symbols are taken from a set called "alphabet". The alphabet of a formal language consists of symbols that concatenate into strings (also c ...

s, much of which he published in collaboration with Hermann Maurer and

Arto Salomaa Arto Kustaa Salomaa (6 June 1934 – 26 January 2025) was a Finnish mathematician and computer scientist. His research career, which spanned over 40 years, was focused on formal languages and automata theory. Early life and education Salomaa ...

, and also for his work in computational geometry. Wood was born in 1940 in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, and educated at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

. He earned his PhD from Leeds in 1968 under the supervision of Mike Wells. After postdoctoral studies at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, he took his first faculty position at

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

in Ontario, Canada. Before joining the

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a public research university in Sai Kung District, New Territories, Hong Kong. Founded in 1991, it was the territory's third institution to be granted university status, and the firs ...

(HKUST) in 1995, Wood also taught at the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

and the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

. He became a chair professor at HKUST in 2006. He died on 4 October 2010 i
Sunnyside Long-Term Care, Kitchener
where he moved after his retirement. Wood together with Darrell Raymond founded the ''Workshop on Implementing Automata'', later to become the International Conference on Implementation and Application of Automata (CIAA). The '' Journal of Universal Computer Science'' published a special issue in honor of his 70th birthday. The University of Waterloo continues to offer an annual graduate scholarship in his memory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Derick 1940 births 2010 deaths English computer scientists Canadian computer scientists Alumni of the University of Leeds Academic staff of McMaster University Academic staff of the University of Waterloo Academic staff of the University of Western Ontario Academic staff of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Researchers in geometric algorithms