Elliott Brothers

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Elliott Brothers (also known as Elliott-Automation) was a British computer company.

In 1958, in an attempt to form a strong national computer manufacturer, the commercial data processing element of Elliott Brothers was merged with International Computers and Tabulators, to form International Computers Limited. The remaining real-time systems part of Elliott-Automation was merged with similar elements of GEC, Marconi, and English Electric in 1969, to form Marconi Elliott Computer Systems Limited, re-named GEC Computers in 1972.

It is perhaps best-known to history for the ALGOL compiler for the Elliott 803, largely written by Tony Hoare (who had been hired by Elliotts as a programmer in August 1960). His experiences with ALGOL were an inspiration for his famous 1980 Turing Award lecture, The Emperor's Old Clothes - see link below).

Further reading

  • Simon H. Lavington, Moving Targets: Elliott-Automation and the Dawn of the Computer Age in Britain, 1947–67, Springer, New York, 2011

External links