Sophie Wilson, a technologist whose innovative contributions paved the way for today’s mobile phones, tablet computers, digital televisions and video game devices, is being honored this week at the 25th anniversary Computer History Museum Fellow Awards in Silicon Valley.
Wilson, Broadcom’s Director of Integrated Circuit Design, and fellow honoree Steve Furber, professor of Computer Engineering at the University of Manchester, are being recognized for their work on the BBC Micro and design of the ARM processor architecture. The ARM processor core is now used in thousands of different electronics products.
In his book, ARM System-on-Chip Architecture, Furber notes that Wilson’s “original instruction set architecture survives, extended but otherwise largely unscathed, to this day.”
To date, more than 32 billion ARM cores have shipped, with nearly 7 billion of them shipped in 2011 alone.
“Sophie Wilson being named a Computer History Museum Fellow acknowledges the magnitude of her contributions to the tech world and we are proud to have her expertise at Broadcom,” said Greg Fischer, Broadcom Vice President & General Manager for the Broadband Carrier Access Business Unit.
ARM chip
Her contribution to Broadcom’s own FirePath DSP – which was the foundation of Element14 (a company she co-founded with six others that was acquired by Broadcom) and subsequently our industry-leading DSL business – is now used in a variety of Broadcom products including DSL, STB, VoIP, PLC and small cell base stations.
Wilson joins a prestigious league of Computer History Museum Fellows who have been recognized for their roles in the advancement of computing and the impact of their contributions. Other 2012 awardees include technology leaders Edward A. Feigenbaum, pioneer of artificial intelligence and expert systems, and Fernando J. CorbatĂł, pioneer of timesharing and the Multics operating system.
Past Computer History Museum Fellows include a veritable “who’s who” of elite innovators, including Gordon Bell, Morris Chang, Linus Torvalds, Gordon Moore and Steve Wozniak, among others.
“It’s hard to believe how much the world has changed since we designed the ARM processor architecture,” said Wilson, who is also a Broadcom Distinguished Engineer and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and British Computer Society.
“The Computer History Museum recognition of innovation and its exhibitions help people to understand the impact of these accomplishments over time,” she said