Exactly eleven years since she last spoke to the group about the history and future of the ARM processor, Sophie Wilson CBE will pay a virtual visit to the RISC OS User Group of London (ROUGOL) on 19th April. This time, the subject will be the Future of Microprocessors.
If you’re a RISC OS user or have a passing interest in the operating system and the platforms on which it runs – which is a safe bet if you’re reading this site – you should already know who Sophie Wilson is. In case you don’t, however, she has a long history with Acorn Computers, having been with the company from the early days, where she designed the System 1, along with its OS and other important software, was one half of the design team that came up with the the BBC Microcomputer, and later designed the ARM instruction set. Sophie was also the developer behind both the 6502 and ARM versions of BBC BASIC, as well as the designer of the Acorn Replay video system.
Post-Acorn, Sophie has become a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the British Computer Society, and much more – and gained those three letters after her name in 2019, when she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to computing.
If you want to hear what Sophie has to say on the development of microprocessors, past, present, and future – and perhaps ask a question of someone who was instrumental and influential in so many ways in the way modern computing has developed – the talk will take place on Monday, 19th April, at 7:45pm, with the meeting itself open from 7:30pm to give people time to join.
The free meeting will again be held using the Zoom video conferencing software, so there’s no need to worry about traffic or train times; you just need the log-in details for the meeting. If you attended last month’s meeting, you can re-use those details – but if not, just contact ROUGOL by the end of the previous day, and you’ll get an email on the 19th with all the necessary information to allow you to join.
All you need to do then is take steps to ensure your family and/or pets aren’t going to spoil your evening, prepare some snacks and drinks, and make yourself comfortable for what should be a fascinating talk.
