Steve Furber is a talented and successful computer scientist, mathematician and engineer who has left a huge mark on the hardware industry. He was born and raised in Manchester and became known for his visionary ideas and relentless drive to push the boundaries of what is possible in computing. Learn more at manchester-future.
Early years of the computer genius
Furber was born in Manchester in 1953. From a young age, he stood out among other children by his passion for innovative technologies. During his school years at Manchester Grammar School, he was very fond of mathematics and computer science. In addition to being one of the most successful students, he also constantly participated and even won in various scientific contests. One of them was held in Hungary in 1970. There, he represented his school as the best student and earned a bronze medal.
After a busy school life, he went on to study mathematics at St John’s College, Cambridge. In school and college, Steve Furber stood out from other students with his academic achievements and fluency in mathematics, computer science and engineering. Therefore, after successfully graduating from the university in 1978, he was invited to the Rolls-Royce company as a research fellow in aerodynamics.
For several years, Steve worked at Acorn Computers on many important projects, including the development of a microprocessor-based fruit machine controller.
Career development
Born with an incredible curiosity and passion for technology, Furber began his journey in computer engineering with a great tenacity that defined his subsequent career. Having graduated with honours from a prestigious engineering college, he didn’t waste time and plunged into the work process. He wanted to make the field of innovative technology better, clearer and more accessible to everyone.
Furber gained his first experience at leading technology companies in Manchester. He quickly established himself as a hardworking and talented scientist and developer. He showed extraordinary abilities in solving the most difficult engineering tasks, which helped him quickly move up the career ladder. Steve Furber had a clear understanding of how hardware and software work. Deep knowledge in this field distinguished him from other specialists, allowing him to manage the leading projects of that time in the city.
One of such projects was the BBC Micro, the Acorn Electron and the ARM microprocessor. In the 1990s, he became a Professor of Computer Engineering at the International Computers Limited and created a research group working on AMULET microprocessors.
Steve Furber’s areas of activity
Most of Furber’s work was related to neural networks, networks on a chip and microprocessors. In the early 2000s, he became a member of the EPSRC research cluster, which worked on new biological computing.
One of Steve Furber’s greatest achievements was his revolutionary microprocessor engineering, which opened the way to a new level of performance and efficiency of computing systems. He created an innovative approach to designing processors, which stood out from others by its simplicity. Furber’s discoveries in computer engineering marked a major shift in the field. Thanks to his projects and discoveries, he received recognition in the scientific community far beyond his hometown’s limits.
Furber has been a leader in technology and innovation throughout his career. He created advanced network protocols and innovative artificial intelligence algorithms. Steve lives with a great love for his work and has a relentless desire to make this world a better place. It motivated him to constantly explore new horizons of computing and expand the boundaries of what is possible.
Steve not only made a significant contribution to computer engineering in Manchester but also taught and inspired others to do the same. For several years, he has been passing on his knowledge of mathematics and computer science to a new generation of students at a local university.
Steve Furber’s most recent realised project is an attempt to create a new kind of computer. It was called SpiNNaker and was a device that could directly simulate the human brain. In simple words, in 2019, Furber tried to create an artificial neural network. It worked at the hardware level with a massively parallel processing system that was designed to eventually include a million ARM processors. This device could simulate 1% of the capabilities of the human brain or about 1 billion neurons. Furber’s SpiNNaker project was aimed at researching brain functions.
Steve Furber is surely an outstanding computer scientist, mathematician and hardware engineer. His contributions to science helped shape the modern computing environment.
Steve Furber received many awards over the years of his life and work. Moreover, as of 2023, about 250 billion microcircuits, used in almost all mobile devices worldwide, have been manufactured based on Furber’s designs.
