| Authorised form of name | Wheeler; David John (1927 - 2004) |
| Dates | 1927 - 2004 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Birmingham, Warwickshire, England |
| Date of birth | 09/02/1927 |
| Place of death | Cambridge |
| Date of death | 13/12/2004 |
| Occupation | Computer scientist, inventor of the 'closed subroutine' |
| Activity | Education:
Edward VI Camp Hill Grammar School, Birmingham; Hanley High School, Stoke on Trent; Trinity College, Cambridge; Research Student, Mathematical Laboratory, Cambridge, PhD (1951)
Career:
Research Fellow, Trinity College, Cambridge (1951-1957), worked on Edsac (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Computer); Visiting assistant professor, Illinois University (1951-1953) working on Ordvac (Ordnance Discrete Variable Automatic Computer); Assistant Director of Research, Mathematical Laboratory, Cambridge University (1955-1966), working on Titan computer, Reader in Computer Science (1966-1978), Professor of Computer Science (1978-1994, Emeritus); Univeristy of California, Berkeley (1966); Fellow, Darwin College, Cambridge (1967-1994, Emeritus); consultant for Bell Labs (worked for them in 1968) and Digital Equipment Corporation where he worked with Mike Burrows to devise the Burrows-Wheeler Compression Algorithm; invented with Roger Needham cryptography technique called Tea (Tiny Encryption Algorithm); Fellow, British Computing Society (1970); Pioneer Medal "for assembly language programming", Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers; Fellow of the Computer History Museum (October 2003) |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 19/03/1981 |
| Age at election | 54 |
| Relationships | Son of Arthur and Agnes Wheeler; married (1957) Joyce Blackler |
| Sources | Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 2006 vol 52 pp 437-453, plate, by Martin Campbell-Kelly |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/71446271 |
| Royal Society code | NA4849 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| IM/GA/JGRS/8253 | Wheeler, David John | 1981 |
| EC/1981/40 | Wheeler, David John: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 1978 |