Michael Woodger (born 28 March 1923) is a pioneering English computer scientist. He was influential in the development of the early

Pilot ACE The Pilot ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) was one of the first computers built in the United Kingdom. Built at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the early 1950s, it was also one of the earliest general-purpose, stored-program computers ...

computer, working with

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical co ...

, and later the design and documentation of programming languages such as ALGOL 60 and

Ada Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, ...

. He was based at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) located in

Teddington Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long me ...

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 ...

, for most of his career. Mike Woodger was the eldest of four children. His father was

Joseph Henry Woodger Joseph Henry Woodger (2 May 1894 – 8 March 1981) was a British theoretical biologist and philosopher of biology whose attempts to make biological sciences more rigorous and empirical was significantly influential to the philosophy of biolo ...

(1894–1981), a professor of biology at 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 ...

. He graduated from

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

in 1943 and worked at the Ministry of Supply on military applications for the rest of

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 ...

. In May 1946, he then joined the new Mathematics Division at the National Physical Laboratory located in west

. At NPL, he worked with Alan Turing on the ACE computer design, leading eventually to the

computer after Turing had left NPL, first operational in 1950. He later worked on programming language design, especially ALGOL 60 and

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodger, Mike 1923 births Living people Alumni of University College London British people of World War II Computer designers English computer scientists History of computing in the United Kingdom People from Epsom Programming language designers