Posted: 6th February 2018

A new 3-minute video celebrating 60 years of impressive Computer Science by our department has been put together by the University.

The video starts when the Oxford Computer Laboratory (as it was known until 2011) was set up with one hand-me-down computer known as ‘the monster in the basement’ and a lot of paper. It then runs through the department’s expansion in research and development, namechecking important figures such as Christopher Strachey who became the first professor of computation. He insisted on the vital combination of theory and practice which still marks the department today.

The video highlights important landmarks in department research, such as work with Intel on chips, and the virtual model of the heart being made available to drug companies. It also traces the introduction of the various teaching programmes – doctorates, masters’ and undergraduate degrees. As the department reached its 60th birthday, it was one of the top three Computer Science departments in the world, still working on so many exciting projects, including quantum, artificial intelligence, ethics, and cryptography.

The video can be watched on YouTube