Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Robin Milner
In 1991 Robin Milner received the ACM Turing award, computer science’s highest academic honour
In 1991 Robin Milner received the ACM Turing award, computer science’s highest academic honour

Robin Milner obituary

This article is more than 13 years old
Computer scientist who was one of the world's foremost theorists in his field

Robin Milner, who has died aged 76, was one of the world's foremost theorists of computer science. Over a period of 40 years, he made important contributions to the theoretical foundations of computing. In his latter years, as professor emeritus at Cambridge University, he played a leading role in establishing the Grand Challenges global research agenda for computer science.

Milner and Tony Hoare, another noted theoretician, aimed to establish a set of long-term research goals of comparable vision to the Human Genome Project. Milner was personally involved in establishing the Grand Challenge for a "science for global ubiquitous computing". Within 20 years, he argued, computers could be regarded as one single global universal computer. There needed to be an underlying theory for how we could program and trust such a system. That challenge remains elusive, but vitally important. As Milner once remarked, our lack of scientific understanding about how today's computing infrastructure works "has all the charm of inventing the science of navigation while already on board ship".

Milner was born in Yealmpton, near Plymouth, the younger child of John, an army officer, and his wife, Muriel. The family moved often, and Robin was educated as a boarder at a preparatory school. He was a brilliant student and in 1946 won a scholarship to Eton college, where he excelled in mathematics. In 1952 he won a scholarship to King's College, Cambridge. His entry was postponed for two years for his national service as a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers.

At Cambridge he studied mathematics and philosophy, although by his own account he spent most of his time playing chamber music as an oboist. In 1956, he attended the summer school in computer programming organised by the Cambridge University mathematical laboratory, but did not pursue it.

After graduating in 1957, he moved to London. His career initially lacked direction and he took a variety of jobs, including a period as a mathematics teacher. Deciding he needed to get a steady job, in 1960 he joined Ferranti's computer division to become a programmer. In 1963 he married Lucy Moor, a violin teacher whom he had met at a music camp. They had three children during the next five years. From 1963 until 1968, Milner was a lecturer in maths and computing at City University, London. There, besides teaching engineers, he developed an interest in artificial intelligence (AI).

In 1968 he took up a senior research assistantship at University College, Swansea, working with David Cooper, a prominent AI researcher. This was followed by a research post with the artificial intelligence project at Stanford University, California. There he developed LCF, an influential system for computer-assisted reasoning. This was important work, although Milner felt that it "wasn't getting to the heart of computation theory", where he was determined his future work would lie.

In 1973 Milner returned to the UK as a lecturer in computer science at Edinburgh University. There, his first and most tangible creation was ML, a simple, rigorously defined programming language. Unreliable software was a major issue. ML went some way to enabling programmers to verify, with mathematical rigour, that their programs were correct. ML soon took on a life of its own. It was used for undergraduate teaching, research and engineering applications and it spawned several dialects. Many years later, it was redefined as Standard ML, for which Milner won the 1987 technical award of the British Computer Society.

During the 1970s, computing evolved from sequential machines (which obeyed one program at a time) to concurrent systems, enabling several programs to be executed simultaneously. In 1980 Milner published a mathematical basis for understanding them, called the Calculus for Communicating Systems (CCS).

CCS consolidated Milner's growing international reputation. He rose rapidly through the academic ranks, becoming a professor of computer science at Edinburgh University in 1984. In 1986 he secured funding to establish the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science. There, he led the development of the pi-calculus, which extended his earlier work to model the emerging world of networked, mobile computing systems. Milner was a fine administrator and an inspiring teacher. His remarkable scholarly achievements and gentle demeanour earned him great affection and respect.

Milner was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1988. He received the ACM Turing award in 1991, computer science's highest academic honour, and he was conferred with honorary doctorates almost on an annual basis. In 1995 he became professor of computer science at Cambridge University, serving as head of department from 1996 to 1999.

Lucy died earlier this year. Their son Gabriel died in 1992. Another son, Barney, and a daughter, Chloe, survive him, along with Milner's sister, June.

Arthur John Robin Gorell Milner, computer scientist and mathematician, born 13 January 1934; died 20 March 2010

Most viewed

Most viewed