Andrew John Theodore Colin was a British university professor of

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

, born in 1936. He is a

co-inventor In patent law, an inventor is the person, or persons in United States patent law, who contribute to the claim (patent), claims of a patentability, patentable invention. In some patent law frameworks, however, such as in the European Patent Convent ...

of the widely used

Binary Tree In computer science, a binary tree is a k-ary k = 2 tree data structure in which each node has at most two children, which are referred to as the ' and the '. A recursive definition using just set theory notions is that a (non-empty) binary t ...

data structure. Professor Colin published 12

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...

s on various aspects of Computer Science, some of which have been translated into other languages. Andrew Colin lectured at

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public university, public research university, located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal Universit ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

from 1957 to 1960, moving in 1960 to the university's

Institute of Computer Science 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 a ...

. From 1965 to 1970 he was Director of the Computer Science Laboratory at

Lancaster University Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...

. In 1970 he was appointed Professor in the newly created Department of Computer Science at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

. He stepped down as head of department in 1983 and started a company working on developing commercial applications based on the Department's research, while continuing to teach. Subsequently, he lectured part-time at the Graduate School of Business. He also sang

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

in the choir of

St. Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow The Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin (Scottish Gaelic: Cathair-eaglais Naomh Moire), commonly called St Mary's Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church. It is located on the Great Western Road, in the west end of Glasgow, ...

. He died on 25 September 2018 at the age of 82.Andrew John Theodore Colin
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References

1936 births 2018 deaths British computer scientists Academics of Birkbeck, University of London Academics of Lancaster University Academics of the University of Strathclyde {{compu-scientist-stub