Caminer, David

▪ 2009

David Treisman 

      British computer software engineer

born June 26, 1915, London, Eng.

died June 19, 2008, London

developed (with hardware designer John Pinkerton) the world's first business computer, LEO (Lyons Electronic Office), which revolutionized the speed and accuracy with which routine business data could be processed. In 1936 Caminer, who had opted not to pursue a university education, went to work for the British catering business J. Lyons and Co. After losing a leg in battle during his World War II military service, he returned (1944) to the company as a systems researcher and analyst. Lyons sponsored British computer scientist Maurice Wilkes's work on the first full-sized stored-program computer, with the agreement that Wilkes would allow Lyons to build a replica computer of its own. Caminer was assigned the task of designing the computer's code, a unique system that could be easily reconfigured to perform a variety of tasks. Caminer, with Pinkerton, completed LEO in 1951. It was first utilized to estimate the cost of tea-shop baked goods, and within two years Lyons became the first company to issue computerized paychecks. Caminer designed two additional generations of LEO and from 1959 helped run LEO Computers, a corporate spin-off. He remained with the organization through a series of mergers and led the development of a communications network for the European Commission. Caminer was made OBE in 1980.

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