| Authorised form of name | Needham; Roger Michael (1935 - 2003) | 
| Dates | 1935 - 2003 | 
| Nationality | British | 
| Place of birth | Sheffield | 
| Date of birth | 09/02/1935 | 
| Date of death | 28/02/2003 | 
| Research field | Engineering | 
| Computer science | 
| Activity | Education:  Doncaster Grammar School; University of Cambridge, graduated in maths and moral science (1956), diploma in numerical analysis and automatic computing (1957), PhD in information retrieval  Career:  Cambridge Language Research Unit (1957-1962); Titan project at Mathematical Laboratory (later known as Computer Laboratory), University of Cambridge under Maurice Wilkes; made a Fellow of Wolfson College (1967); Head of Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge (1980-1996); Professor, University of Cambridge (1981-1997); consultant for major companies including Rand Corporation, Hitachi and Xerox; visited Silicon Valley, California each summer (1977-1997); appointed Director of Cambridge Microsoft Research Laboratory (1997); served on lvey Committee; served on Defence Scientific Advisory Council, University Grants Committee; Trustee of Foundation for Information Policy Research; Labour Party District Councillor  Honours:  CBE 2001
  | 
| Membership category | Fellow | 
| Date of election | 21/03/1985 | 
| Age at election | 50 | 
| RSActivity | Lectures: Clifford Paterson 2002 | 
| Relationships | Married (1958) Karen Sparck-Jones | 
| Source | Sources: Obituaries in The Times (07 March 2003); Guardian (10 March 2003) Obituaries: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 2004 vol 50 pp 183-199, plate, by Sir Tony Hoare and Maurice V Wilkes | 
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/94898447 | 
| Code | NA901 | 
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date | 
| EC/1985/28 | Needham, Roger Michael: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 1981 | 
| IM/003243 | Needham, Roger Michael | 2002 |