Allan Bromley (historian)

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See also D. Allan Bromley, Canadian-American physicist.

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Allan George Bromley (1947-2002) was an Australian historian of computing.

Allan Bromley was an associate professor at the University of Sydney. His main academic interest was the history of computers.

Probably Bromley's most important and lasting achievement was his study of the original drawings for the Difference Engine, designed by Charles Babbage in the 19th century, at the Science Museum library in London during the 1980s. This led to the reconstruction of the Difference Engine No. 2, on display in the galleries of the Science Museum. A whole issue of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing was dedicated to Allan Bromley as a result in 2000.

Bromley, together with Sydney clockmaker Frank Percival, built a partial reconstruction of the Antikythera mechanism, one of the oldest (surviving) geared mechanisms known. He was also responsible for a collection of old computers, which used to be displayed in the rear foyer of the building containing the University of Sydney Computer Science Department. He had a large personal collection of mechanical calculators, slide rules, etc. He was a generous donor of artefacts to museums in Australia, especially the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

He died of Hodgkin's disease.