Institute of Computer Science
| Active | 1960–1974 |
|---|---|
| Location | 44-45 Gordon Square London, United Kingdom |
The University of London Institute of Computer Science (ICS) was an Institute based in London in England. The Institute was founded by the University of London to support and provide academic research, postgraduate teaching, computer services and network services. It was founded as the University of London's Computer Unit at some point in the 1950s, changed its name to the Institute of Computer Science in the 1960s, and dissolved in 1974.
The exact date of foundation remains to be established, but the Institute appears to have already existed by the 1950s. Richard Buckingham was Director, first of the Computer Unit and later of the Institute of Computer Science, from 1957 to 1973.
The name of Institute had been given by 1962, when John Buxton became one of its lecturers. It was dissolved in 1974 and its Director moved to Birkbeck College. Some of the material in this description of the institute is derived from a history of the School of Computer Science & Information System at that college
The Institute staff included, at various times –
Following the dissolution of the ICS staff moved to a number of other institutions-
The Institute conducted research in computer systems and applications.
Publications by staff and students include – [In the list below all publications are published papers unless otherwise specified. “Comp J” is the Computer Journal of the British Computer Society (BCS)] –
- and – numerous early RFCs (Internet standards)
Ph.D. degrees were awarded to Barnett's graduate students
To expedite their work, Gerard and Sambles were sent to MIT, to work with Barnett for several months before his return to England, and published several papers with the MIT Cooperative Computing Laboratory as joint affiliation. These included two of the earliest papers that reported the production of built up mathematical formulas, constructed by symbolic calculation, and recorded using computer typesetting software. Gerard and Sambles went on to CERN to work on the mechanized detection of particle events.
Barnett's work at the Institute focused on exploring the practical problems and social consequences of electronic typesetting.
The Master of Science (M.Sc) in Computer Science of the Institute was one of the first courses in the subject. Barnett also ran informal courses, at the Institute and at the London College of Printing, to explain computer typesetting to officials of the trade unions concerned with the printing industry.
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