| Authorised form of name | Lynch; Michael Richard (1965 - 2024); technology entrepreneur |
| Dates | 1965 - 2024 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Illford, London, England |
| Date of birth | 16/06/1965 |
| Place of death | The Bayesian superyacht, Mediterranean Sea, off Porticello, Santa Flavia, Sicily, Italy, Europe |
| Date of death | 19/08/2024 |
| Occupation | Technology entrepreneur |
| Research field | Computer systems |
| Computer science |
| Computer technology |
| Technology |
| Machine learning |
| Activity | Education: Bancroft's School, Woodford, London; Christ's College, Cambridge (1983-1986) (MA, PhD)
Career: Set up his first company, Lynett Systems Ltd, whilst working on his PhD in artificial neural networks (1980s); founded Cambridge Neurodynamics, a company specialising in computer based finger print recognition (1991); in collaboration with Richard Gaunt and David Tabizel founded a software search company, Autonomy, which enabled computers to carry out powerful searches of diverse information, including emails, phone calls, videos, as well as having voice recognition capabilities (1996); joined the board of the BBC (2007); sold Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for £8.6 billion (2011); founded Invoke Capital, a capital venture firm which backed Darktrace, a cyber security firm (2011); member of the government’s Council for Science and Technology (2011); member of the Darktrace board (2011-2018); member of the Darktrace advisory council (until 2021); member of Darktrace science and technology council (until 2023); indicted for fraud by the US government (2018); faced Hewlett-Packard civil action for fraud in London (2019-2022); the US authorities sought Lynch’s extradition on criminal charges of conspiracy and fraud; flown to the US to be held under house arrest in San Francisco (2023); charged with wire fraud, securities fraud, and conspiracy, to which he pleaded not guilty, and cleared of all charges (2024); died with the sinking of his superyacht, the Bayesian, whilst celebrating his acquittal (2024).
Honours: OBE (2006) |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 30/04/2014 |
| Age at election | 49 |
| Relationships | Parents: Michael Lynch, firefighter, and Dolores Lynch, nurse.
Spouse: Angela Bacares (2001)
Children: Esme and Hannah (d. 19 August 2024 on the Bayesian) |
| OtherInfo | Known for co-founding Autonomy Corporation, Invoke Capital, and Darktrace.
Autonomy became a leading company in the Silicon Fen, Cambridge. |
| Source | Adeney, Martin, 22 August 2024, Mike Lynch obituary, The Guardian on [https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/aug/22/mike-lynch-obituary; last accessed: 29/08/2024]
Sharpe, Richard, Interview with Mike Lynch, 31 January 2017, 'Archives IT' on [https://archivesit.org.uk/interviews/mike-lynch-obe/; last accessed: 28/08/2024] |
| Code | NA9913 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/2014/27 | Lynch, Michael: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 30 April 2014 |
| IM/007652 | Lynch, Michael Richard | 2014 |