Sad, sad news. Roger's pioneering contributions to our art speak (volumes) for themselves, and our field is diminished by the loss of his future insights.
But I will miss him most for his enormous generosity, his sharp wit, and his personal integrity. -matt > -------------------- > Obit: Roger Needham > By Guy Kewney, Newswireless.net > Posted: 02/03/2003 at 12:13 GMT > > Sadly, we record the death of Roger Needham, computer pioneer... > > There isn't much more to say, except that the man who was the reason > Microsoft set up its research centre in Cambridge, England, has had to lay > down his life's work. Cancer ended a legend. > > He once told me that it was his idea that Microsoft stopped spending money > on patenting its research ideas, and instead, to make the results available > to other researchers. I wish I'd known him long enough to have some other > stories to pass on myself; he left a long legacy of people who attributed > their inspiration to having worked with him. > > Here's what his CV at Microsoft Research says: > > Roger M Needham, born 1935, was in computing at Cambridge since 1956. His > 1961 PhD thesis was on the application of digital computers to problems of > classification and grouping. In 1962 he joined the Computer Laboratory, > then called the Mathematical Laboratory, and has been on the faculty since > 1963. He took a leading role in Cambridge projects in operating systems, > time sharing systems, memory protection, local area networks, and > distributed systems over the next twenty years. > > Roger worked at intervals on a variety of topics in security, (his main > research interest while with Microsoft) being particularly known for work > with Schroeder on authentication protocols (1978) and with Burrows and > Abadi on formalism for reasoning about them (1989). > > Roger graduated from the University of Cambridge in Mathematics and > Philosophy in 1956, and then took the Diploma in Numerical Analysis and > Automatic Computing in 1957. He had been in computing at Cambridge ever > since. He succeeded Maurice Wilkes as Head of the Computer Laboratory from > 1980 to 1995, was promoted Professor in 1981, elected to the Royal Society > in 1985 and the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1993. He was appointed > Pro-Vice-Chancellor in 1996. > > I only met him a couple of times, both times when Microsoft was doing > corporate hospitality to publicise the work it was doing in the Cambridge > research facility. He was as knowledgeable as any rumour could have > suggested; and as tolerant of an ignorant journalist as any academic could > ever be. And I shall never get to know him, now. > > Guy Kewney is the editor/publisher of Newswireless.Net > > ----------------------------------------------- > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Cryptography Mailing List > Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
