Robert William Doran HFNZCS (5 November 1944 – 13 October 2018) was a New Zealand-based computer scientist and historian of computing. He was Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.[1]
Doran studied at the University of Canterbury (New Zealand) and for a master's degree in computer science from Stanford University (California, United States) in 1967. He taught at City University (London, England) and Massey University (Palmerston North, New Zealand).[2] He first worked with computers in 1963.[3] He was a Principal Computer Architect at Amdahl Corporation (Sunnyvale, California) during 1976–1982.[1] He joined the Department of Computer Science at the University of Auckland in 1982 and was Head of department. He maintained computing history displays in the department,[4] especially of totalisators.[5] The history displays are now part of The Bob Doran Museum of Computing.[6]
Doran's research interests included computer architecture, parallel algorithms, and computer programming. He was also interested in the history of computing.[2] In 2017, he contributed to The Turing Guide.[7]
Doran was made an Honorary Fellow of the New Zealand Computer Society,[3] now the Institute of IT Professionals.
Doran died on 13 October 2018 at home in Auckland.[8]
Selected publications
- Carpenter, B. E. & Doran, R. W. (1977). The other Turing machine. The Computer Journal, 20(3):269–279.
- Doran, R. W. (1977). Computer Architecture: A Structured Approach. Academic Press, 1979.
- Doran, R. W. & Thomas, L. K. (1980). Variants of the software solution to mutual exclusion. Information Processing Letters, 10(4/5):206–208, July.
- Carpenter, B. E. & Doran, R. W. (1986). AM Turing's ACE Report of 1946 and Other Papers, Vol. 10, Charles Babbage Institute Reprint Series for the History of Computing, MIT Press.
- Doran, R. W. (1988). Variants of an improved carry look-ahead adder. IEEE Transactions on Computers, 37(9):1110–1113. doi:10.1109/12.2261
- Doran, R. W. (1988). Amdahl Multiple-Domain Architecture. Computer, 21(10):20–28. doi:10.1109/2.7054
- Thomborson, C. D. & Doran, R. W. (2005). Incredible Codes. In A. Brook (ed.), Incredible Science: Explore the Wonderful World of Science (pp. 16–17). New Zealand: Penguin Books.
- Doran, R. W. (1995). Special cases of division, Journal of Universal Computer Science, 1(3):176–194.
- Doran, R. W. (2005). Computer architecture and the ACE computers. In B. J. Copeland (ed.), Alan Turing's Automatic Computing Engine (pp. 193–206). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Doran, R. W. (2007). The Gray code. Journal of Universal Computer Science, 13(11):1573–1597.
- Doran, R. W. (2007). The First Automatic Totalisator. The Rutherford Journal, 2.
- Carpenter, B. E. & Doran, R. W. (2014). John Womersley: Applied Mathematician and Pioneer of Modern Computing. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 36(2):60–70. doi:10.1109/MAHC.2014.25
Doran is also a listed inventor on the following US patents assigned to Amdahl Corporation: 4503512 (1985), 4967342 (1990), 5109522 (1992).
References
- ^ a b Copeland, Jack; Bowen, Jonathan; Sprevak, Mark; Wilson, Robin; et al. (2017). "Notes on Contributors". The Turing Guide. Oxford University Press. p. 476. ISBN 978-0198747833.
- ^ a b "Bob Doran". Computer History Museum. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
- ^ a b "Preserving our IT Heritage: Computers Designed+Assembled in NZ". NZCS – 50 Years of ICT Innovation. New Zealand: New Zealand Computer Society. 16 September 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
- ^ "Computing History Displays". Computer Science. New Zealand: University of Auckland. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
- ^ "Computing History Displays: Totalisators". Computer Science. New Zealand: University of Auckland. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
- ^ "The Bob Doran Museum of Computing". Computer Science. New Zealand: University of Auckland. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
- ^ Carpenter, Brian; Doran, Robert (2017). "Chapter 22 – Turing's Zeitgeist". In Copeland, Jack; et al. (eds.). The Turing Guide. pp. 223–231.
- ^ "Robert William (Bob) DORAN". The New Zealand Herald. 16 October 2018.
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