Dai Edwards (engineer)

Edwards was born in Tonteg, South Wales, the only child of Cecilia (née George) and William Edwards.

In 1945 Edwards enrolled at the University of Manchester to read physics. After graduating in 1948 he became a research student working for Professor F.C. Williams in the Department of Electro-Technics on the Small-Scale Electronic Machine (SSEM) computer, also known as "The Baby", the world's first stored-program computer.{{Cite book |last=Broadbent |first=T.E. |title=Electrical Engineering at Manchester University: The story of 125 years of achievement |publisher=The Mancherster School of Engineering, University of Manchester |year=1998 |isbn=0953120309}}{{Cite journal |last=Lavington |first=Simon |date= |orig-date= |title=Obituary: Prof. Dai Edwards |url=https://www.computerconservationsociety.org/resurrection/res92.htm#d |journal=Computer Resurrection, the Journal of the Computer Conservation Society |publication-date= |volume=Winter 2020/21 |issue=92}}{{Cite book |last=Rojas |first=Raul |title=The First Computers: History and Architectures |last2=Hashagen |first2=Ulf |publisher=MIT Press |year=2002 |isbn=9780262181976 |pages=381}}{{Cite book |last=Lavington |first=Simon |title=Early British Computers |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1980 |isbn=0719008107 |pages=37}}

Edwards subsequently worked on the Manchester Mark 1 computer, improving the cathode-ray tube (CRT) memory, extending the machine's instruction set, and implementing programmable data transfers between the magnetic storage drum and the CRT.{{Cite journal |last=Wilkes |first=Maurice |last2=Kahn |first2=Hilary J. |date=1 December 2003 |title=Tom Kilburn CBE FREng. 11 August 1921 – 17 January 2001 |url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rsbm.2003.0016 |journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society |volume=49 |pages=283–297}}

He was awarded his M.Sc. in 1949, was appointed Lecturer in 1950{{r|EEMU|p=185}} and gained his Ph.D.{{Cite web |last=Edwards |first=D.B.G. |date=1954 |title=The Design and Construction of an Experimental High Speed Digital Computer (Ph.D. thesis) |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2270045121 |access-date=19 June 2025 |website=Proquest |type=}} for his work on the "Megacycle Machine" (MEG) which was commercialised by Ferranti in 1957 as the Mercury computer. In 1959 he led the engineering team for the MUSE/Atlas computer.{{r|EEMU|p=208}} This led to his co-invention, with Tom Kilburn, Frank Sumner and M.J. Lanigan, of virtual memory.{{Cite journal |last=Kilburn |first=T |last2=Edwards |first2=D.B.G. |last3=Lanigan |first3=M.J. |last4=Sumner |first4=F.H. |date=1962 |title=One-Level Storage System" |journal=IRE Transactions on Electronic Computers |volume=2 |pages=223–235 |doi=10.1109/TEC.1962.5219356}}

In 1964 he joined the University's newly-created Department of Computer Science as Reader,{{r|EEMU|p=211}} and in 1965 he and Kilburn established the Department's undergraduate programme. He was appointed Professor of Computer Engineering in 1966.

He worked on the design of the experimental MU5 computer (1968–1982), which led to the ICL2900 series, and also worked on MU6 (1982–1987).{{Cite web |title=David 'Dai' Edwards |url=https://www.bl.uk/voices-of-science/interviewees/dai-edwards |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116065617/https://www.bl.uk/voices-of-science/interviewees/dai-edwards |archive-date=16 Jan 2014 |access-date=16 June 2025 |website=British Library Voices of Science}}

He served as Head of the Department of Computer Science (1980–1987),{{Cite book |last=Sumner |first=James |title=Manchester Minds |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2024 |isbn=9781526176325 |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Stuart |publication-date= |pages=232 |chapter=Two Manchester computing traditions}}{{Cite web |title=University of Manchester Department of Computing Science Collection: Dai Edwards Papers |url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb133-muc/5-9/muc/8 |access-date=16 June 2025 |website=Jisc Archives Hub}} Dean of the Faculty of Science (1982–1983){{Cite web |title=Dai Edwards |url=https://curation.cs.manchester.ac.uk/digital60/www.digital60.org/about/biographies/others/index.html#edwards |access-date=20 June 2025 |website=Digital 60 Manchester: 60 Years of the Modern Computer}} and retired from the University in 1988.

In 1953 Edwards married Betty Duckworth, who died in 1977. In 1979 Edwards married Jane Ellis.

• {{Cite journal |last=Kilburn |first=T. |last2=Tootill |first2=G.C. |last3=Edwards |first3=D.G.B. |last4=Pollard |first4=B.W. |date=1 October 1953 |title=Digital computers at manchester university |url=https://digital-library.theiet.org/doi/abs/10.1049/pi-2.1953.0145 |journal=Proceedings of the IEE – Part II: Power Engineering |volume=100 |issue=77}}

• {{cite journal |title=Parallel addition in digital computers: A new fast 'carry' circuit |author1=T. Kilburn |author2=D.B.G. Edwards |author3=D. Aspinall |journal=Proceedings of the IEE - Part B: Radio and Electronic Engineering |volume=106 |issue=29 |pages=464–466 |doi=10.1049/pi-b-2.1959.0316 |date=September 1959}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Kilburn |first=T |last2=Edwards |first2=D.B.G. |last3=Lanigan |first3=M.J. |last4=Sumner |first4=F.H. |date=1962 |title=One-Level Storage System" |journal=IRE Transactions on Electronic Computers |volume=2 |pages=223–235 |doi=10.1109/TEC.1962.5219356}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Edwards |first=D.B.G. |last2=Aspinall |first2=D. |last3=Kilburn |first3=T. |date=1964 |title=Design principles of the magnetic tape system for the Atlas computer. |journal=Radio and Electronic Engineer |volume=27 | issue=1 |pages=65–73}}
• Edwards, D.B.G., Lanigan, M.J. and Kinniment, D.J., 1964, September. High-speed ferrite-core storage system. In Proceedings of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (Vol. 111, No. 9, pp. 1501-1510). IEE.
• Edwards, David BG, Alan E. Knowles, and J. V. Woods. "MU6-G. A new design to achieve mainframe performance from a mini-sized computer." In Proceedings of the 7th annual symposium on Computer Architecture, pp. 161-167. 1980.
• {{Citation | last = Edwards | first = Dai | title = Designing and Building Atlas | journal = Resurrection: The Bulletin of the Computer Conservation Society | volume = 62 | pages = 9–18 | date = Summer 2013 | url = http://www.computerconservationsociety.org/resurrection.htm | issn =0958-7403 }}

{{reflist}}

• [https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=d+b+g+edwards&oq= Dai Edwards] at Google Scholar

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{{s-ttl|title=Head of the Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester | years=1980–1987}}

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Category:British computer scientists

Category:Academics of the University of Manchester

Category:People associated with the University of Manchester

Category:1928 births

Category:2020 deaths

Category:Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester

Category:Welsh engineers

Category:History of computing in the United Kingdom

Category:People associated with the Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester

Category:Computer engineers