Tom Kilburn

image courtesy of Manchester 2003

Born on August 11, 1921 in the city of Dewsbury, Yorkshire, Kilburn went to Cambridge University during the Second World War to study mathematics. During this time, he had joined the air corps and after he had graduated in 1942, he was sent to take a six-week course in electricity, magnetism and electronics before reporting to the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) at Malvern. This was where he was assigned to Freddie Williams’ group and where he met the person who would help him to develop the first of the Manchester Machines (the SSEM) for the very first time. This group, led by Williams, was primarily responsible for solving electronic circuit problems regarding radar applications and defence.

Killburn holding a CRT in front of a replica SSEM

image courtesy of Computer 50

When Freddie Williams moved to the University of Manchester in December 1946, Kilburn was seconded to Manchester by TRE so that they could continue their research in storing information digitally on a Cathode Ray Tube. Williams would eventually succeed in storing a single bit on a CRT and Kilburn would suggest an improved method of storage allowing them to discover a way to store 2048 bits on a CRT by 1947. This technology would later become known as “Williams Tube” technology. Kilburn would then move on to lead the development of the SSEM in 1948, which would help test the new memory technology in a real-world setting. In late 1948, Kilburn would join the University of Manchester’s Electrical Engineering department and would receive a Ph.D. for his work on the memory technology and the SSEM.

“Kilburn was a modest individual who actively shunned publicity. In 1968 he was asked why computer science textbooks seldom mentioned the early pioneering work at Manchester. Kilburn paused, and then replied mysteriously: "Because those who need to know, do know." Such isolationism was sometimes the despair of his more gregarious colleagues, but Kilburn's ability to remain focused on a problem enabled him to lead his team from the front.” – Tom Kilburn’s Obituary

With the success of the SSEM, a new machine was commissioned by the government that was to be more powerful and usable that the original SSEM. The design of this machine, the Manchester Mark I, was also led by Kilburn and was completed by November 1948. As Williams had more duties as a professor and was not really committed to the production of computers, Kilburn eventually became the senior full time worker on the project and the major influence behind the development of the Manchester Mark I and the Ferranti Mark I that soon followed afterwards.

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Introduction | F.C. Williams | Tom Kilburn | The Williams Tube

SSEM | Manchester Mark I | Ferranti Mark I | Programming the Ferranti | Other People Involved

Links and References

Created by Reginald Tiangha for CPSC 509

Summer 2003