Conway Berners-Lee

Conway Berners-Lee (born 1921) is an English mathematician who worked in the team that developed the Manchester Mark 1 computer at the University of Manchester, England. He went on to work for Ferranti, ICT and ICL. While at ICL in the 1960s and 1970s he worked on randomizing algorithms and other methods for scattering and retrieving data on magnetic discs, which in those days were of very restricted space, typically 8–30 MB on a disc set measuring about 40 centimetres (16 in) in diameter and 15 centimetres (5.9 in) deep. He rather revelled in a reputation for being an absent-minded scientist. His brilliant mind and complete focus on solving problems made him seem a bit remote, but he was always very pleasant

Conway's brilliance was held in awe by his associates. He seemed to be working at a different level of intelligence, but his absent-mindedness was also well known - an anecdote confirms this: While working at ICL in London he was sent to Manchester to perform some specific mission on behalf of the company. He travelled to Manchester by train, but on arriving could not remember why he had been sent there and had to ring the London office to find out.

Berners-Lee was born in Birmingham to Helen Lane Campbell Gray and Cecil Burford Berners Lee.^[1] He is married to Mary Lee Woods, also in the team. Their son, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, went on to invent the World Wide Web.

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• Photograph with colleagues

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