OMG this takes me back!

Steve Furber was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Years honours list.

Professor Furber of the University of Manchester has been has involved with home computing since the 70’s, when studying at Cambridge University he got involved in a club for computer hobbyists.

It was during this time when he was approached to work for British computing firm Acorn, and shortly after joining started working on the BBC Micro. The incredibly successful BBC Micro was part of an initiative by the British Broadcasting Corporation to improve computer literacy, initially it was only estimated to sell around 12,000 units but the BBC went on to sell 1.5 million and became the corner stone of computer education in Britain during the 80’s.

After working on the BBC Professor Furber went on to co design the revolutionary ARM chip, the first one was made in 1985 and amazingly they are still used today in mobile products like iPods and mobile phones.

The Professor is currently working on a computer which is intended to mimic the complex interactions of the human brain, which will be comprised of his famed ARM chip and is currently known as the Brain box.

Source BBC