Jason Fitzpatrick the CEO of the CCH gave LEO Computer Society members a virtual tour of the exhibits at the Museum on 27th April. The meeting was held on Zoom and recorded for those who wanted to attend but who were not able.
The recording is now available on this Website and can be viewed by following the link above. In addition an updated version of LEOPEDIA as at 30th April has been also uploaded to the Website
The Zoom Video can be viewed by following This Link and the updated LEOPEDIA Here
It is with great regret that we have to report that Mary Coombs, one of the LEO pioneers passed away on 28thFebruary 2022 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, at the age of 93. Mary was the World’s first female business computer programmer joining the LEO team in 1952. We will let members know when the funeral is arranged.Mary was a good friend of the society and will be sadly missed. You can see Mary’s obituary on the CCH Website Here. Other published Obituaries include The Times, Computer Weekly, Computing, BCS, The Register, The News Trace, The Guardian , The Daily Telegraph, The ACM, Wikipedia, Bucks Free Press, Elective College and Radio 4’s Last Word on Friday (18th March) at 4p.m. , repeated on Sunday (20th March) at 8.30 p.m. – and available as a podcast thereafter -Listen at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qpmv
There is also a recording of a recent Zoom meeting held to remember Mary –Zoom Recordingand copy of thepresentation deck used by Hilary Caminer Presentation
Mary appeared in our/CCH recent film about LEO remembering the early days of LEO (and if you haven’t seen it or want to watch it again go here)and there was a short BBC Witness History feature made about her- available for viewing at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07w35t and her school, Putney High School also celebrated her at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHiCMfHydlo
For those interested in Mary’s life you can read a transcript of her Oral History at the British Library here.
Picture of Mary below. Copyright Mike Hally/LEO Computers Society
Lyons Electronic Office: The Story of the World’s First Business Computer
To mark the 70th anniversary of LEO, the world’s first business computer, the LEO Computers Society and the Centre for Computing History (CCH) are launching a new specially commissioned short film. Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of efforts to preserve and promote the history of this remarkable British invention, the film will be released on the 30th November – the day in 1951 that LEO ran its first program. The film will introduce a whole new generation, from secondary school age upwards, to the remarkable story of the birth of computing technology that, today, we take for granted.
We’re sharing some business computing history over the next week as we lead up to the 70th anniversary of LEO completing its first program. Come & learn more at our LEO Weekend on 4th – 5th Dec, and see our special exhibition & film screening:
This ‘American Tour’ report kickstarted the world of business computing. Lyons visited the USA in 1947 to learn about computers, from ENIAC to IBM. They weren’t impressed – but found out about EDSAC here in Blighty, then built their own machine
LEO Matters from Novemeber 2021 in desktop published format. Edited by Hilary Caminer and published by Bernard Behr.
Contents: (Clicking on the highlights below will take you straight to the page containing the item highlighted. – Note on slow Internet connections this may not work and you will be taken to page 1 in all cases).To open the whole document click on the image of the front page.
There was another Zoom on Monday 24 January 2022 at 15:30 GMT. The topic was “Inside the LEO archive” and was led by Luke Thorne, our Archivist at the Centre for Computing History at Cambridge. A recording is available at https://leo-computers.org.uk/Videos/Clipped_LEO_Archive.mp4
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REUNION and LEO Exhibition: Sunday, 10th April 2022
From midday at the Victory Services Club, Marble Arch, London W2 2HF. As usual this will be an opportunity to meet old friends and colleagues and others with an interest in early computing. There will be refreshments and exhibitions of LEO related materials – as well as the usual raffle! Details to follow in the new year.
Tickets (to include a light lunch) cost £27 if bought before 31st January 2022 (£30 thereafter.)
To download a form to send with your application and with payment details click here
September 1951 – At J. Lyons & Co on Wednesday, 5th September 1951 the Bakery Valuations programme was run to completion on real data as an experiment to test the hardware. As noted in Ernest Lenaerts notebook for that date it ran from 3:50 to 5:35 without a fault and was the longest run of any programme at that time.
The BBC programme Antiques Road Trip made a stop off at Cambridge to visit the Cambridge Computer History Museum and interviewed Jason Fitzpatrick the Museum founder. Jason covered many interesting topics including early calculators, EDSAC, LEO and the BBC Micro and ARM chips.
