Editing Sophie Wilson (section)

==Career==
Before going to university, Wilson had designed and built two electronic systems for [[Imperial Chemical Industries|ICI]] Fibres Research in [[Harrogate]] near her home village.  The following year, in the 1977 summer vacation after her first year at university, she designed a small system around a [[MOS Technology 6502]] microprocessor, which was used to electronically control feed for cows.<ref name="reg">{{cite web|title=Unsung Heroes of Tech: ARM creators Sophie Wilson and Steve Furber|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/02/unsung_heroes_of_tech_arm_creators_sophie_wilson_and_steve_furber/|last=Bidmead|first=Chris|date=2 May 2012|work=The Register|access-date=9 November 2015|archive-date=13 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413185748/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/02/unsung_heroes_of_tech_arm_creators_sophie_wilson_and_steve_furber/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Wilson's success with the cow-feeder project and paper designs for a more general system based on it caught the notice of [[Hermann Hauser]], at the time a Cambridge postgraduate student.  Hauser was impressed, and supported Wilson to stay in Cambridge for the 1978 summer vacation to see if she could turn the design into reality.  At the same time a small microcomputer kit, the [[MK14]], was just being launched by [[Science of Cambridge]], led by [[Christopher Curry (businessman)|Chris Curry]] on behalf of Cambridge electronics businessman [[Clive Sinclair]].  Wilson was convinced she could do better, and Hauser encouraged her to do so, using parts from the MK14.{{sfn|Gelenbe|2009|p=118}}

In December 1978 Hauser and Curry set up Cambridge Processor Unit Ltd (CPU), initially as a consultancy designing microprocessor-based control systems.  Their first customer was Ace Coin Equipment Ltd, who needed controllers for their [[slot machine|fruit machines]], with Wilson designing a device to prevent cigarette lighter sparks triggering payouts.<ref name=reg /> Meanwhile Wilson's computer design, combined with a cassette interface designed by [[Steve Furber]], became the [[Acorn System 1|Acorn Micro-Computer]], the first of a long line of computers sold by the company.<ref name="bbcbasic">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcbasic/history.html|title=A History of BBC BASIC|last=Russell|first=R. T.|access-date=10 June 2007|archive-date=23 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023080726/http://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcbasic/history.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Gelenbe|2009|p=118}} Wilson started at the company in 1979.<ref name="Selwyn 2024" />

Based on this processor board CPU Ltd developed an increasing number of different interface, display, control, and test add-ons for different customers, which in turn led to the [[Acorn Eurocard systems|Acorn Eurocard rack systems]] that were made generally available, and then the [[Acorn Atom]] released in March 1980.  Wilson, initially [[side job|moonlighting]] from the final year of her degree, contributed first the [[machine code monitor]], then an [[Assembler (computing)|assembler]], then a version of [[BASIC]] and multiple [[device driver]]s for the machines ("an incredible task of [[bootstrapping]] things up"), as well as pitching in with everything else in the office.<ref name="computerhistory.org" />

=== BBC micro ===
Wilson was at the forefront of creating the prototype that enabled Acorn to win the contract with the [[BBC|British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)]] for their ambitious computer education project.{{sfn|Gelenbe|2009|p=119}}  

The BBC had planned that the centrepiece of their project would be an [[The Computer Programme|upcoming tv series]] that would relate the possibilities that computers were opening up to demonstrations shown running on a standard reference microcomputer, that viewers would then be able to experiment with themselves.  However by the end of 1980 it had become clear that the BBC's intended machine, the government-backed [[Grundy Newbrain|Newbury Newbrain]], would not be able to meet either the capability or the timetable the BBC sought, and the programme team began an urgent search for other options.  Curry pressed the already existing Acorn Atom, but when this was rejected at the start of February 1981 as being too limited and too non-standard, Curry instead offered for the BBC to come to Cambridge the following week to view a prototype of Acorn's next computer — a machine that in reality did not as yet exist, beyond some general design discussion and a name, the Acorn Proton.  Hauser employed a deception, telling both Wilson and colleague Steve Furber that the other had agreed a prototype could be built within a week.<ref name=revolution2008>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7307636.stm|title=BBC Micro ignites memories of revolution|publisher=BBC News|date=21 March 2008|access-date=26 October 2015|archive-date=7 April 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080407140141/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7307636.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTNrseS4DeE A week to remember: race to the BBC Micro prototype], [[The National Museum of Computing]], 14 January 2022. via [[YouTube]].</ref> Taking up the challenge, the Acorn team designed the system including the circuit board and components from Monday to Wednesday, which required fast new [[Dynamic random-access memory|DRAM]] [[integrated circuit]]s to be sourced directly from [[Hitachi]]. By Thursday evening, a prototype had been built, but it was only on Friday morning that it was actually working, allowing Wilson (who had managed to catch a few hours sleep in the night) to start porting over an operating system,<ref name=revolution2008 /> in time to be able to show it consistently drawing a line to a high-res graphics screen by the time the BBC arrived, with full text and graphics on screen by the time the BBC returned from an unproductive visit to the nearby [[Sinclair Research]]. 

The Proton was accepted to become the [[BBC Micro]],<ref>[https://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcbasic/agenda.html Meeting agenda], 12 February 1981.  Agenda for the meeting at which the decision was taken. Made available by [[Richard T. Russell|Richard Russell]], 2016.</ref> with it falling to Wilson to develop its operating system and its version of BASIC, [[BBC BASIC]]<ref name="Electronics1">{{cite web |title=ARM's way |url=https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/archived/resources-archived/arms-way-1998-04/ |website=Electronics Weekly |date=29 April 1998 |access-date=13 December 2023}}</ref> — at 16K and 16K respectively a fourfold increase on the 4K and 4K of the Atom, including a full set of [[floating point]] mathematical routines. Wilson's "Acorn SuperBASIC" development had reached about 10K by the time of the BBC's visit, and she was keen to preserve the improvements she considered she had made with [[Acorn System BASIC]] over previous versions of the language.<ref>[https://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcbasic/beebspec.html BBC outline specification for tenders] and [https://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcbasic/proposal.html Acorn initial response], December 1980/January 1981. Made available by [[Richard T. Russell|Richard Russell]], 2016. Accessed 2024-02-06. See also [https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11935 discussion thread]</ref> But the BBC, in particular their external consultant [[John Coll]] and BBC Engineering's [[Richard T. Russell|Richard Russell]], were adamant that the core established features of the language needed to be present with recognisably standard syntax. On the other hand extensions that Wilson had written to allow more [[structured programming]] in BASIC chimed closely with the BBC team's ambitions, and [[Naming_convention_(programming)#Length_of_identifiers|long fully-significant variable name]]s, [[Repeat until loop|repeat/until loops]], and multi-line [[Procedure (computer science)|procedure]]s and [[Function (computer programming)|function]]s with variables that could be [[Local variable|declared local]] all became hallmarks of BBC BASIC.  Work on the system design, operating system, and BASIC language (and fitting everything into the memory available) continued through the summer, and Wilson recalled watching the [[wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer]] in July 1981 on a small portable television while attempting to debug and re-solder the prototype.<ref name=revolution2008 />   Along with Furber, Wilson was present backstage at the machine's first studio recordings for television, in case any software fixes were required. She later described the event as "a unique moment in time when the public wanted to know how this stuff works and could be shown and taught how to program."<ref name=revolution2008 />

=== ARM processor ===
In October 1983, Wilson began designing the instruction set for one of the first [[reduced instruction set computer]] (RISC) processors, the [[ARM architecture|Acorn RISC Machine]] (ARM).{{sfn|Gelenbe|2009|p=121}} The ARM1 was delivered on 26 April 1985 and worked first time,{{sfn|Hohl|Hinds|2014|pp=5–6}} entering into production the same year.<ref name="Selwyn 2024" /> This processor type was later to become one of the most successful [[Semiconductor intellectual property core|IP core]]s – a licensed [[central processing unit|CPU]] core – and by 2012 was being used in 95% of [[smartphone]]s.<ref name="reg" /> Wilson also designed Acorn Replay, the video architecture for Acorn machines. This included operating system extensions for video access, as well as the [[codec]]s, optimised to run high frame rate video on ARM CPUs from the ARM 2 onwards.<ref name="acornuser199207_replay">{{cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser120-Jul92/page/n108/mode/1up | title=Action Replay | magazine=Acorn User | date=July 1992 | access-date=29 October 2021 | last1=Drage | first1=Chris | pages=107–109 }}</ref>

She was a non-executive director of the technology and games company Eidos plc, which bought and created [[Square Enix Europe#Eidos Interactive|Eidos Interactive]], for the years following its [[Initial public offering|flotation]] in 1990.<ref name="acornusr199308_eidos">{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser133-Aug93/page/n30/mode/1up | title=The cutting edge | work=Acorn User | date=August 1993 | access-date=29 October 2021 | last1=Burley | first1=Ian | pages=29–31 }}</ref> She was a consultant to [[Arm (company)|ARM Ltd]] when it was split off from Acorn in 1990.

[[File:ARM development.jpg|thumb|right|Wilson giving a public presentation on [[ARM architecture|ARM]] development in 2009]]
Since the demise of Acorn Computers, Wilson has made a small number of public appearances to talk about work done there.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.srcf.ucam.org/cucps/19981999/ | title = CU Computer Preservation Society 1998–1999 | access-date = 28 June 2011 | date = 29 August 2002 | publisher = Cambridge University Computer Preservation Society | quote = On 20th October 1998, Sophie Wilson spoke to an audience of 22 about ''Acorn from the BBC to the ARM''. | archive-date = 31 March 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120331073911/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/cucps/19981999/ | url-status = live }}</ref>

=== Firepath ===
Wilson was the Chief Architect of [[Broadcom Corporation|Broadcom's]] Firepath processor.<ref>{{cite web|last=Smotherman|first=Mark|title=Which Machines Do Computer Architects Admire?|url=http://www.cs.clemson.edu/~mark/admired_designs.html|access-date=22 May 2012|archive-date=4 April 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060404093907/http://www.cs.clemson.edu/~mark/admired_designs.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Firepath has its history in Acorn Computers,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wit.library.cornell.edu/show.html?id=64|title=League of Women Coders |author=<!--Not stated--> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128234642/http://wit.library.cornell.edu/show.html?id=64 |website=Cornell University Library |archive-date=28 November 2022 |quote=}}</ref> which, after being renamed to [[Element 14 (company)|Element 14]], was broken up in an acquisition, with the Element 14 name being transferred to a new company,<ref name="ac-prelim-results-for-1998">{{cite web|url=http://www.marutan.net/wikiref/msdw/19990427%20-%20Acorn%20audited%20results%20for%201998.pdf|title=Acorn Group PLC – Preliminary Announcement of Audited Results for the Year Ended 31 December 1998|website=marutan.net|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718122337/http://www.marutan.net/wikiref/msdw/19990427%20-%20Acorn%20audited%20results%20for%201998.pdf|archive-date=18 July 2011|access-date=14 January 2011}}</ref> this company eventually being bought by Broadcom in 2000.<ref name="register20001014">{{cite news | url=https://www.theregister.com/2000/10/14/broadcom_eats_element/ | title=Broadcom eats Element 14 | work=The Register | date=14 October 2000 | access-date=31 January 2021 | last1=Cullen | first1=Drew | archive-date=12 November 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112031746/https://www.theregister.com/2000/10/14/broadcom_eats_element/ | url-status=live }}</ref> In 2001 she became a research fellow and director at Broadcom.<ref name="Selwyn 20243">{{Cite magazine |last=Wilson |first=Sophie |author-link=Sophie Wilson |date=Summer 2024 |title=The AI PC era begins |magazine=Selwyn Magazine |pages=11 |issue=Summer 2024}}</ref>

Wilson was listed in 2011 in ''[[Maximum PC]]'' as number 8 in an article titled "The 15 Most Important Women in Tech History".<ref name="maximumpc 2011" />