Voices of Science

Raymond Bird (1923-) built the prototype Hollerith Electronic Computer (HEC1) based on a design developed by Andrew Donald Booth, of Birkbeck College. Ray refined and improved this to produce the HEC2 series of machines which were amongst the first computers produced commercially. These led to the HEC4, marketed as the BTM1200, which became the biggest selling British computer of the1950s. As the British computer industry was consolidated through a series of mergers during the 1960s, Ray remained involved with computer design before becoming a manager for ICL (International Computers Limited), from where he retired in 1983 to become a consultant on British Standards compliance.