born August 11, 1921, Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England

died January 17, 2001, Manchester

In 1942 Kilburn graduated from the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, University of) with a degree in mathematics. He immediately converted, however, to electronics research when he was recruited to join Frederic Williams (Williams, Sir Frederic)'s wartime radar group at the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE). In December 1946 Williams left TRE to become a professor at the University of Manchester, and Kilburn accompanied him in order to help develop an electronic storage system for electronic computers. They devised a storage device—later known as the Williams tube—based on cathode-ray tubes. A working model was completed late in 1947, and by June 1948 they had incorporated it in a small electronic computer that they built to prove the device's effectiveness. The computer was called the Small Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM) or just “Baby.” It was the world's first working stored-program computer, and the Williams tube became one of the two standard methods of storage used by computers worldwide until the advent of magnetic-core storage in the mid-1950s. By April 1949 the SSEM had developed into a full-sized machine, and by October 1949 secondary storage had been added (using a magnetic drum). This machine, the Manchester Mark I, was the prototype for the Ferranti Mark I, manufactured by Ferranti Ltd. (See photograph-->.)