Sidney Michaelson

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This so ...

FIMA FSA FBCS (5 December 1925 – 21 February 1991) was Scotland's first professor of Computer Science. He was joint founder of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. As an author he is remembered for his analysis of the Bible.

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

He was born on 5 December 1925 in the East End of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

into a relatively poor family. Academically brilliant he won a scholarship to

Imperial College, London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

. He studied mathematics and graduated in 1946. Subsequently he was co-designer of the Imperial College Computing Engine with

Tony Brooker Ralph Anthony Brooker (22 September 1925 – 20 November 2019), was a British computer scientist known for developing the Mark 1 Autocode. He was educated at Emanuel School and graduated in Mathematics from Imperial College in 1945 and r ...

and Ken Tocher. He began lecturing at

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cul ...

in 1949. In 1963 he moved to the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

as Director of its newly founded Computer Unit, and in 1969 became the first Professor of Computer Science. Notable students included

Rosemary Candlin Rosemary Candlin (born Rosemary Shaw in 1927) is a crystallographer and computer scientist who joined the University of Edinburgh Computer Science Department shortly after it was first established, and for some time was the only woman lecturer on ...

. In 1969 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were

Nicholas Kemmer Nicholas Kemmer (7 December 1911 – 21 October 1998) was a Russian-born nuclear physicist working in Britain, who played an integral and leading edge role in United Kingdom's nuclear programme, and was known as a mentor of Abdus Salam – a ...

, David Finney, Sir Michael Swann and Arthur Erdelyi. He died in Edinburgh on 21 February 1991.

Family

His wife Kitty died in 1995. They had four children. One of his sons, Greg, i
Professor Emeritus, School of Mathematical & Computer Sciences at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh

Recognition

In 1991 the University of Edinburgh created the Sidney Michaelson Prize in Computer Science his honour. Michaelson Square in Livingston is named in his memory.

Publications

*K. D. Tocher and S. Michaelson, The Imperial College Computing Engine, in R. V. Bowden (ed), ''Faster Than Thought,'' Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd, 1953, pp161-164. *R. E. D. Bishop, G. M. L. Gladwell and S. Michaelson, ''The Matrix Analysis of Vibration'', Cambridge University Press, 1965. *S. Michaelson and A. Q. Morton, Positional Stylometry, in A. J. Aitken, R. W. Bailey and N. Hamilton-Smith, ''The Computer and Literary Studies'', Edinburgh University Press, 1973, pp69-83. *S. Michaelson, A. Q. Morton and N. Hamilton-Smith. ''To Couple is the Custom'', CSR-22-78, Internal Report, Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, Revised November 1978. *S. Michaelson, A. Q. Morton and N. Hamilton-Smith, ''Justice for Helander'', CSR-42-79, Internal Report, Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, July 1979. *''A Critical Concordance of I and II Corinthians'' (1979) *''A Critical Concordance of the Letter of Paul to the Romans'' (1977) *A. Q. Morton and S. Michaelson, ''The Qsum Plo''t, CSR-3-90, Internal Report, Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, April 1990.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michaelson, Sidney 1925 births 1991 deaths Academics of Imperial College London Mathematicians from London Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish computer scientists