Jack Howlett

Jack Howlett CBE (30 August 1912 – 5 May 1999) was a British mathematician and computer scientist who was head of the Atlas Computer Laboratory for the duration of its existence.

Personal life and early career

He was educated at Stand Grammar School, Whitefield, Manchester and read mathematics at Manchester University. He was awarded a PhD in 1944 for research on the Numerical Integration of Partial Differential Equations.

He worked with the research department of the LMS Railway from 1935 to 1940.

In 1948 he became head of the Computing Section in Theoretical Physics Division, AERE Harwell. He worked on many of the early reactor projects. and he remained editor until 1990, thereafter continuing with an active role on the editorial board until his death; he thus had the unique distinction of receiving an ICL award for 21 years' service which only started at the age of 65. He ran the meetings of the editorial board efficiently in the relaxed atmosphere of his London club, always followed by good food, wine, and conversation.

He also undertook a number of translation projects in his retirement, for example translating books on object-oriented languages and databases from French into English.