Roland Carl Backhouse

Roland Carl Backhouse

Roland Backhouse, 2009
Born August 18, 1948 (1948-08-18) (age 63)
Middlesbrough, England
Residence Nottingham, England
Citizenship British and Dutch
Fields Mathematics
Institutions University of Nottingham
Alma mater Churchill College, Cambridge
Imperial College London
Doctoral advisor Jim Cunningham
Known for Program construction, algorithmic problem solving
Influences T J (Paddy) MacDonald, Edsger W. Dijkstra,
David Gries, C. A. R. Hoare

Roland Carl Backhouse (born 18 August 1948) is a British computer scientist and mathematician who is currently Professor of Computing Science at the University of Nottingham.[1]

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Early life and education

Backhouse was born and raised on one of the poorest housing estates in England, the Thorntree district of Middlesbrough, an industrial town in the north-east of England. In 1959 he won a place at Acklam Hall Grammar School (a school that has since lost its existence under an updated education scheme) before going on to Churchill College, Cambridge, in 1966. His doctorate was completed under the supervision of Jim Cunningham at Imperial College London.

Career

Backhouse's career has included Royal Aircraft Establishment (1969–1970), Heriot-Watt University (1973–1982), University of Essex (1982–1986). He was formerly Professor of Computer Science at the University of Groningen (1986–90) and Eindhoven University of Technology (1990–1999) in the Netherlands, prior to his current position at the University of Nottingham.

Personal life

Backhouse is married to Hilary (née Mitchell) and they have three sons, Kevin, Andrew and David.

Academic interests

His research interests lie in the mathematics of program construction and algorithmic problem solving. Together with Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut (1953—1994), he initiated the biennial series of conferences on the Mathematics of Program Construction, the first of which was held in 1989.

References

Publications

Books

Selected papers

External links