Roger Needham

Needham joined the University of Cambridge in 1956. His PhD thesis was on applications of digital computers to problems of classification. He became a highly respected scholar and worked on a variety of key computing projects in security, operating systems, computer architecture (capability systems[?]) and local area networks.

Among his theoretical contributions is the development of the Burrows-Abadi-Needham logic for authentication, generally known as the BAN logic. His Needham-Schroeder[?] security protocol forms the basis of the Kerberos authentication and key exchange[?] system.

He joined Cambridge's Computer Laboratory[?] in 1962, became head of the lab in 1980 and remained there until his retirement in 1995. Dr. Needham set up Microsoft's UK-based Research Labs in 1996.

In 2001 he received a CBE for his contribution to computing. He was married to Karen Sparck Jones[?].

He died of cancer in February 2003 at his home in Coton, England.

See also: Maurice Wilkes, his contemporary and colleague

External links

• Obit: Roger Needham (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/29535), The Register, March 2, 2003
• Roger Needham Dies (http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/news/view_article.asp?article_id=7433), Business Weekly, March 3, 2003
• Head of Microsoft's European research laboratory dead at 68 (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/03/05/obituary1041EST0066.DTL), San Francisco Chronicle, March 5, 2003
• Roger Needham, Computer Security Expert, Dies at 68 (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/06/obituaries/06NEED), The New York Times, March 6, 2003
• Microsoft's Needham dies from cancer (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/134646807_needham06), The Seattle Times, March 6, 2003
• Speech presenting Needham with an honorary degree (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/publicity/degree_days/degree_2001/needham), Loughborough University, July 13, 2001