Brian Wynne Oakley, (10 October 1927 – 17 August 2012) was a British civil servant and industrialist who took a leading role in the area of information technology, especially the 1980s

Alvey Programme The Alvey Programme was a British government sponsored research programme in information technology that ran from 1984 to 1990. The programme was a reaction to the Japanese Fifth Generation project, which aimed to create a computer using massi ...

Career

Military service and education

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Oakley served with the

Royal Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

as a subaltern. He then studied science at

Exeter College, Oxford (Let Exeter Flourish) , old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall'' , named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter , established = , sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge , rector = Sir Richard Trainor ...

.Honorary Graduates — Brian Wynne Oakley, CBE

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...

, UK, 9 July 1998.

Information technology

In 1950 he joined the

Telecommunications Research Establishment The Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force (RAF) ...

(TRE) where he undertook research in

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

and civilian applications of military research. He then worked in

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...

as a civil servant, joining the

Ministry of Technology The Ministry of Technology was a department of the government of the United Kingdom, sometimes abbreviated as "MinTech". The Ministry of Technology was established by the incoming government of Harold Wilson in October 1964 as part of Wilson's am ...

under the Harold Wilson government in 1969. Subsequently, he became the chief official of the

Science and Engineering Research Council The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and its predecessor the Science Research Council (SRC) were the UK agencies in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research activities, including astronomy, biotechnology and bi ...

(SERC). Oakley was director of the United Kingdom

(1983–87), a British government-sponsored research programme for projects in the area of information technology, initiated as a reaction to the Japanese

Fifth generation computer The Fifth Generation Computer Systems (FGCS) was a 10-year initiative begun in 1982 by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) to create computers using massively parallel computing and logic programming. It aimed to create ...

project. He went on to be chairman of the software company

Logica Logica plc was a multinational IT and management consultancy company headquartered in London and later Reading, United Kingdom. Founded in 1969, the company had offices in London and in a number of major cities across England, Wales and Scot ...

. He chaired the managing board of the Computer Centre of the

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 ...

, an important UK supercomputing centre, and was a director of the

European Initiative for Quantum Computing European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

. From 1988–89, Oakley was president of the British Computer Society. In 1991, on hearing that British Telecom planned to dispose of its site at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...

for housing, together with Tony Sale, he helped to save the site and establish the Bletchley Park Trust and became a director of the Trust. He was chairman of the

Computer Conservation Society The Computer Conservation Society (CCS) is a British organisation, founded in 1989. It is under the joint umbrella of the British Computer Society (BCS), the London Science Museum and the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. Overview The ...

from 1996 to 2000.

Awards and recognition

Oakley was a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

. He received honorary doctorates from Sheffield Hallam University (1994)Honorary Awards
, Sheffield Hallam University, UK. and the

(1998).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakley, Brian 1927 births 2012 deaths Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Bletchley Park people British chief executives British civil servants British computer scientists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire History of computing in the United Kingdom People in information technology Fellows of the British Computer Society Fellows of the Institute of Physics Presidents of the British Computer Society British Army personnel of World War II Royal Corps of Signals officers 20th-century British businesspeople