Contents
Sophie Wilson
Co-designing the original ARM processor architecture and writing BBC BASIC for the BBC Micro.
Acorn System 1 · BBC BASIC
- Born
- June 1957
- Birthplace
- Leeds, England
More people
Sophie Wilson
Sophie Wilson is a British computer scientist whose work helped bring computing into British classrooms and later into mobile devices worldwide. At Acorn, she worked with Steve Furber on the BBC Micro and the original ARM design.
Early life
Teacher parents
Grew up in Yorkshire with parents who taught English and physics.
Cambridge
Studied mathematics and computer science at Selwyn College, designing microcomputer projects while a student.
Career
- 1979
Acorn System 1
Her microcomputer design became an early commercial Acorn machine.
- 1981
BBC Micro
Helped create the prototype and wrote its BBC BASIC interpreter.
- 1983–1985
ARM development
Co-designed the processor’s instruction set as Acorn developed its own chip.
- 1990s–2000s
Further processor work
Developed the Firepath architecture, later used in communications technology.
Contributions
Acorn System 1
An early kit computer for hobbyists and engineers.
BBC BASIC
A programming language implementation used on the BBC Micro.
Original ARM
A reduced-instruction-set processor developed with Steve Furber and the Acorn team.
Beyond computing
Amateur theatre
Has acted, designed costumes and sets, and helped stage local productions.
Recognition
Elected a Royal Society Fellow and appointed CBE for services to computing.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Institutional biography and career record ↗Photo: Chris Monk. CC BY 2.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
