From: jeffreydanielrubard@gmail.com   
      
   On Monday, April 12, 2010 at 9:01:25 PM UTC-7, La N wrote:   
   > I just read this obituary elsewhere. I had no idea of his passing earlier   
   > in the month. Robin Milner was my brother's mentor/advisor/hero/co-author   
   > when he - my bro - got his own PhD at the U. of Edinburgh. Robin Milner was   
   > held in very high regard internationally in the world of mathematics and   
   > computer science.   
   > *****************************************************   
   > Robin Milner obituary   
   > Computer scientist who was one of the world's foremost   
   > theorists in his field   
   > Martin Campbell-Kelly   
   > guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 April 2010 18.53 BST   
   >   
   > In 1991 Robin Milner received the ACM Turing award, computer   
   > science's highest academic honour   
   >   
   > 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   
      
   Robin Milner was some kind of genius.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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