Ursula Martin facts for kids

Ursula Hilda Mary Martin was born on August 3, 1953, in London, UK. She is a very important British computer scientist. She studies theoretical computer science, which is about the basic ideas behind computers. She also works on formal methods, which help make computer systems super reliable.

Professor Martin is also well-known for helping and encouraging girls and women. She wants more of them to get involved in exciting fields like computing and mathematics. Since 2019, she has been a professor at the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh. Before that, she taught at the University of Oxford and Queen Mary, University of London.

Early Life and Education

Ursula Martin was born in London. Her parents were Anne Louise and Captain Geoffrey Richard Martin. She went to school at Abbey College.

She studied mathematics at university. In 1975, she earned her master's degree from Girton College, Cambridge. Later, in 1979, she received her PhD from the University of Warwick.

A Career in Computing and Math

Ursula Martin started her career working on group theory in mathematics. This area looks at how different things can be grouped and changed. Later, she moved into string rewriting systems, which are like rules for changing sequences of symbols.

She has taught at many famous universities. These include the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Manchester. She also worked at Royal Holloway, University of London. She even spent time visiting Massachusetts Institute of Technology and SRI International in California.

Leading the Way for Women

From 1992 to 2002, Professor Martin was a Computer Science Professor at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. This was a big deal! She was only the second female professor there since the university started way back in 1411. The first was Margaret Fairlie, a professor of medicine.

From 2003 to 2005, she worked part-time at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. There, she led a special project called Women@CL. This project helped create programs to support women in computing. It worked at local, national, and international levels. Big companies like Microsoft Research and Intel helped support this important work.

Publications and Achievements

Professor Martin has written many important papers and books. One of her books is about Ada Lovelace. Ada Lovelace was a very early computer pioneer.

• with Christopher Hollings and Adrian Rice, Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist, Oxford: The Bodleian Library, 2018, 114 pp. ISBN: 978-1851244881

Awards and Recognition

Ursula Martin has received many honors for her work. In 2012, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). This award was for her great contributions to computer science.

In 2017, she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE). She also became a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng). These are very high honors in the scientific and engineering worlds.