A leading light on complex codes
HE WAS a Cardiff professor and celebrated GCHQ mathematician known for his expertise on codes and ciphers.
Tributes have been paid to Enigma expert Robert Francis Churchhouse CBE following his death aged 90.
Born to a working-class Catholic family living in Colleyhurst, Manchester, Bob began to show signs of his mathematical ability at just six years old.
But it was not until spending a day ill and bored in bed that his passion for numbers began after devouring a textbook on trigonometry.
As a young man Bob won a scholarship to Manchester University to study mathematics where he was taught by Professor Max Newman and a 37-yearold Alan Turing.
After graduating with a first class honours, the academic received an award to do a PhD in Number Theory at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
It was only a matter of time until the gifted mathematician reported to GCHQ, where he met chess master Hugh Alexander and Bletchley Park World War Two veteran Jack Good.
Bob moved to the new GCHQ site in Cheltenham in 1954 before being posted to work in Washington DC for two years.
The move was to have a dramatic affect on Bob’s career as he worked on the first commercial computer capable of handling complex mathematics.
In 1970, whilst on a visit to the south of France, Bob received a call from the Principal of University College, Cardiff, about a new position to set up a department of computing mathematics and run the university’s own Computer Centre.
Bob and his family moved to Wales in 1971 where he set up a thriving department and became Dean of Students and Deputy Principal for Science and Engineering.
As a lifelong Catholic, Bob also helped reorganise the Catholic secondary schools in Cardiff as well as serving on the board of governors of Saint David’s Sixth Form College for 15 years. He was recognized for his service with a Papal Knighthood in 1988.
In 1996, aged 68, Bob retired from the university and was made an emeritus professor.
Periodically, Bob would sit on GCHQ promotion boards which allowed him to borrow Enigma and Hagelin cipher machines.
Outside of his work life, Bob loved literature and music and was a very keen follower of cricket.
After meeting at a school dance aged 17, he would go on to marry his wife Julia in 1954.
Following his death on August 27, he is survived by his beloved wife Julia, three sons, eight grandchildren and one great-grandson.