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.
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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.

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