Mike Woodger

{{Short description|English computer scientist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Use British English|date=April 2018}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Mike Woodger

| honorific_suffix =

| image = Pilot ACE computer.jpg

| caption = The Pilot ACE computer, now in the Science Museum, London

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1923|3|28|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Epsom, Surrey, England

| death_date =

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| citizenship = British

| field = Computer science

| workplaces = National Physical Laboratory

| alma_mater = University College London

| doctoral_advisor =

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| known_for = {{Plainlist|

• Pilot ACE
• ALGOL 60
• Ada (programming language)}}

| awards =

}}

Michael Woodger (born 28 March 1923) is a pioneering English computer scientist. He was influential in the development of the early Pilot ACE computer, working with Alan Turing, and later the design and documentation of programming languages such as ALGOL 60 and Ada.{{cite news |url=http://www.computerconservationsociety.org/resurrection/res50.htm#d |first=David |last=Yates |title=Pioneer Profile: Michael Woodger |journal=Computer Resurrection – The Bulletin of the Computer Conservation Society |volume=50 |date=Spring 2010}} He was based at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) located in Teddington, London, for most of his career.{{cite book |last=Yates |first=David M. |date=1997 |title=Turing's Legacy: A history of computing at the National Physical Laboratory 1945–1995 |publisher=Science Museum, London |location=UK |isbn=978-0-9018-0594-2 |pages=10, 12, 24, 30–31, 38, 39, 66, 70, 111, 124, 159, 176, 182, 219, 222, 236, 316, 329, 331, 332}}

Mike Woodger was the eldest of four children. His father was Joseph Henry Woodger (1894–1981), a professor of biology at the University of London. He graduated from University College London in 1943 and worked at the Ministry of Supply on military applications for the rest of World War II.{{cite web |url=http://www.npl.co.uk/people/michael-woodger |title=Michael Woodger |publisher=National Physical Laboratory |location=UK |access-date=26 January 2017}} In May 1946, he then joined the new Mathematics Division at the National Physical Laboratory located in west London. At NPL, he worked with Alan Turing on the ACE computer design,{{cite journal |last=Woodger |first=M. |title=Automatic Computing Engine of the National Physical Laboratory |journal=Nature |volume=167 |date=1951 |page=270}} leading eventually to the Pilot ACE computer{{cite news |last=Campbell-Kelly |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Campbell-Kelly |title=Programming the Pilot ACE: Early Programming Activity at the National Physical Laboratory |publisher=IEEE |journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |volume=3 |number=1 |date=1981 |pages=133–162}} after Turing had left NPL, first operational in 1950.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18555669 |title=Alan Turing: Assistant Mike Woodger recalls working with the computer pioneer |publisher=BBC News |location=UK |date=22 June 2012 |access-date=26 January 2017}} He later worked on programming language design, especially ALGOL 60 and Ada.{{cite web |url=http://history.computer.org/pioneers/woodger.html |last=Lee |first=J. A. N. |title=Michael Woodger |work=IEEE Computer Society |publisher=IEEE |access-date=26 January 2017}}