Patrick Blackett: Physicist, Radical, and Chief Architect of the Manchester Computing Phenomenon

The dominant discourse in the history of computing holds that the world's first stored-program digital electronic computer--the Manchester "Baby"--was developed under the sole leadership and direction of the Department of Electro-Technics. This biography, which arises out of a detailed re-examination of the historical evidence, suggests that the physicist P.M.S. Blackett was much more influential in the genesis, enabling, staffing, and funding of the project than has previously been recognized.