Tag Archives: Professor Kathleen Booth

Remembering Professor Kathleen Booth, 1922-2022

The pioneering computer scientist was instrumental in founding Birkbeck’s Department of Computer Science and her legacy lives on in the College today.

Kathleen Booth

We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Professor Kathleen Booth (née Britten) on Thursday 29 September 2022.

Kathleen was one of the founding members of Birkbeck’s Department of Computer Science in 1946 and she is internationally recognised for her contribution to the field.

Together with her husband Andrew Booth, Kathleen designed and built the College’s first computer, which was followed by increasingly sophisticated models. Kathleen was a skilled software developer and published a book entitled ‘Programming for an Automatic Digital Calculator’ in 1958.

The Booths left Birkbeck in 1962 to pursue academic careers in Canada and their legacy is remembered each year at the Andrew and Kathleen Booth Memorial Lecture. In 2022, the lecture was an opportunity to celebrate Kathleen’s 100th birthday, and we were delighted to share a recorded message from Kathleen with the audience.

Kathleen’s legacy as a pioneering woman in computer science lives on through the Kathleen Booth Anniversary PhD Studentship, which aims to increase diversity in an industry that continues to be male-dominated.

We are grateful for Kathleen’s contribution to computing and to Birkbeck and our thoughts are with her family at this difficult time.

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