David May (computer scientist)

Michael David May FRS FREng (born 24 February 1951) is a British computer scientist. He is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bristol and founder of XMOS Semiconductor, serving until February 2014 as the Chief Technology Officer.

May was lead architect for the transputer. As of 2007, he holds 34 patents, all in microprocessors and multi-processing.

May was born in Holmfirth, Yorkshire, England and attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield. From 1969-1972 he was a student at King's College, Cambridge, University of Cambridge, initially studying Mathematics and then Computer Science in the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory, now the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory.

He moved to the University of Warwick and started research in robotics. The challenges of implementing sensing and control systems led him to design and implement an early concurrent programming language, EPL, which ran on a cluster of single-board microcomputers connected by serial communication links. This early work brought him into contact with Tony Hoare and Iann Barron: one of the founders of Inmos.