Andrew Donald Booth (11 February 1918 – 29 November 2009)[2][3] was a British electrical engineer, physicist and computer scientist, who was an early developer of the magnetic drum memory for computers.[1] He is known for Booth's multiplication algorithm.[2]
Early life
The son of Sidney Booth (died 1955) a cousin of Sir Felix Booth, he was raised in Weybridge, Surrey, and educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School. In 1937, he won a scholarship to read mathematics at Jesus College, Cambridge. Booth left Cambridge without taking a degree, having become disaffected with pure mathematics as a subject. He chose an external degree from the University of London instead, which he obtained with a first.[2]
From 1943 to 1945, Booth worked as a mathematical physicist in the X-ray team at the British Rubber Producers' Research Association (BRPRA), Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, gaining his PhD in crystallography from the University of Birmingham in 1944. In 1945, he moved to Birkbeck College, University of London, where his work in the crystallography group led him to build some of the first electronic computers in the United Kingdom[4][5] including the All Purpose Electronic Computer, first installed at the British Rayon Research Association.[6] Booth founded Birkbeck's department of numerical automation and was recently named a fellow at the university. He also did early pioneering work in machine translation.[7]
Dr. Booth served as President of Lakehead University from 1972 to 1978.
Family
Booth married mathematician and computer engineer Kathleen Hylda Valerie Britten in 1950, and had two children, Amanda and Ian;[8] between 1947 and 1953, together they produced three computing machines.
Booth, A.D. and Britten, K.H.V. (1947) Coding for A.R.C., Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
Booth, A.D. and Britten, K.H.V. (1947) General considerations in the design of an all-purpose electronic digital computer, Institute for Advance Study, Princeton
Booth, A.D. and Britten, K.H.V. (1948) The accuracy of atomic co-ordinates derived from Fourier series in X-ray crystallography Part V, Proc. Roy. Soc. Vol A 193 pp305–310
The Electronic Principles of Digital Computers, Electronics Forum (1948);
Booth, A.D (1949) A Magnetic Digital Storage System, Electronic Engineering
Booth, A.D. (1950) The Physical Realization of An Electronic Digital Computer, Electronic Engineering
Booth, A.D. (1952) On Optimum Relations Between Circuit Elements and Logical Symbols in the Design of Electronic Calculators, Journal of British Institution of Radio Engineers
Booth, A.D. and Booth K.H.V. (1953) Automatic Digital Calculators, Butterworth-Heinmann (Academic Press) London
References
^ abInternational Biographical Dictionary of Computer Pioneers. John A.N. Lee. November 1995. p. 115. ISBN 1-884964-47-8. Born February 11 1918, East Molesy, Surrey, UK; early computer developer at the University of London who worked with John von Neumann; with Warren Weaver in 1946, first conceived of machine translations, and manufactured magnetic drum memories for many early computers.
^"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 May 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Computer Science at Birkbeck College
^"Pioneer of the hard drive". PressReader.com. Susan Lazaruk. 3 January 2010. Retrieved 28 March 2021. Booth and his wife raised two children, Amanda, a veterinarian, and Ian, a physicist.
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