Barrie Chaplin
G. B. B. "Barrie" Chaplin (27 January 1924 – 12 January 2021) was a British engineer and inventor, and professor emeritus at the University of Essex where he established the Department of Electrical Engineering Science in 1966. He was selected by IET as one of its 95 inspiring engineers and technologists of the past, present, and future and he was included in an exhibition at Savoy Place. Born in Cheshire, Chaplin was a founding father of modern electronics as one of the first to devise circuits for the transistor after its invention in the late 1940s. Circuit designs devised by Chaplin (some with co-authors) principally in the 1950s, have since become standard building blocks for the complex analogue and digital electronic systems of today. His career as an inventor and academic continued until his retirement in 1989. He pioneered many technology breakthroughs including the world’s first transistorised digital computer, the world’s first transistorised sampling oscilloscope and active noise and vibration cancellation technologies. His output was prolific and wide-ranging, producing a long list of patents and important technical papers and publications throughout his career. Many of his breakthroughs were aired on British television through programmes such as the technology magazine programme Tomorrow’s World. Chaplin earned his Bachelors, Masters and PhD at Manchester University and served in the RAF during World War II. He worked in the private sector before returning to academia. Early life 
Chaplin was born in the Stockport village of Romiley and began his studies at Manchester University in 1947. He received a first-class honours for his BSc electrical engineering in 1950, completed his MSc in 1951, and PhD in 1953. During his studies he worked alongside early computing pioneers Tom Kilburn, Frederic C Williams and Alan Turing. They supported his innovative research into transistor circuits and computer design. The output of this pioneering work would be the creation of the world’s first transistorised digital computer. Early Education 
Chaplin’s early schooling took place at the Romiley County School in the district of Stockport. Subsequently, he was awarded a scholarship to study at the William Hulme Grammar School in Manchester. World War Two 
At the age of 18, Chaplin was drafted into the Royal Air Force in 1942. He had a keen interest in electrical systems, and following a successful aptitude test, he became a radar mechanic, maintaining H2S (Height to Slant Range) radar systems and GEE (Ground Electronic Equipment) radio navigation systems on Avro Lancaster heavy bomber aircraft throughout the remainder of World War Two. Education at Manchester University 
Following his release from the Royal Air Force in March 1947, Chaplin joined the research staff of the Radar Laboratories of Ferranti Ltd in Edinburgh. He left Ferranti in September of that year in order to take a degree course at Manchester University, graduating with a first-class honours BSc in Electrical Engineering in 1950, subsequently achieving an MSc in 1951 and a PhD in 1953. His MSc and PhD theses were effectively reporting platforms for the extraordinarily innovative and creative transistor circuit and computer design work he carried out at the university during this period. Of particular note; the output of his PhD work was the creation of the world’s first transistorised digital computer. During this period, he had daily contact with influential mentors such as Frederic “Freddie” Williams (often known as F C Williams) and Tom Kilburn (co-inventors of the “Williams-Kilburn tube” – a Cathode Ray Tube memory device), and Alan Turing, arguably the father of the modern computer; all keenly supporting Chaplin in his quest to revolutionise the power of computer architectures through the use of the transistor. Chaplin fortuitously found himself to be at the right place and right time for the push for modern computer development. Manchester University, under the leadership of F C Williams and Tom Kilburn, proved to be the birth-place of the modern computer, a computer project which underwent several name changes throughout the phases of its development. At inception, it was known as the SSEM (Small Scale Experimental Machine), coined the “Manchester Baby”, successfully running its first computer program on 21 June 1948. The next version was named the “Manchester Mk 1”, achieving operational status around October 1949; and in parallel with the development of the Manchester Mk 1, electronic engineering firm Ferranti was commissioned by the government in October 1948 to create a commercially viable version, which became known as the “Ferranti Mk 1”, the first production unit appearing in February 1951. Finally, the university team created the “Manchester Mk 2”, better known as “Meg” (Megacycle Machine), successfully running its first computer program in 1954; and in parallel with the development of Meg, Ferranti produced the first commercial production unit known as “Mercury” in 1957. Professor Chaplin at the University of Essex 
Chaplin was invited to join the University of Essex as a Professor in 1966, where he established the Department of Electrical Engineering Science in that same year, the forerunner of the current School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering. His inventiveness continued unabated throughout his tenure at the university until his retirement in 1989. Although his inventiveness continued to be wide-ranging, his mainstream focus at Essex University was concerned with the invention and development of active noise and vibration technologies, and in improving the relationship between education and industry. Inspiring the Next Generation of Electronic Engineers 
Chaplin had always been very conscious of the need to develop the skills of young people to fulfil the enormous potential of electronic engineering. He was concerned that science taught in schools was being left behind by technological advances. In 1969 he devised an Electronic Systems A-level, subsequently spending ten years fighting the Schools Council which refused to approve it on the premise that engineering was too vocational. However, with close support and guidance from Lord Mountbatten, who at that time was chairman of the National Electronics Council, and with whom a firm working friendship quickly developed, Chaplin finally convinced the Schools Council to allow a trial period with the A-level being taught at selected schools. The first of these schools was the Colchester Royal Grammar School, its trial class successfully completing the course in 1975. In 1979, the Schools Council finally approved the A-level for the UK’s broad national school curriculum. His Legacy 
Chaplin profoundly influenced and accelerated the development of electronic technology in the world. He was one of those very rare individuals who had an enhanced vision and perception that enabled him to see a potential future with great clarity, and perhaps more importantly, he possessed the ability and drive to make that future a reality. For Chaplin, it all started at the University of Manchester, with the newly invented transistor. He even created his own early crude transistors using point-contact crystal diodes that he had salvaged from his wartime service. The world scientific view at the time was that the transistor was not much more than an interesting “solid state” device that might one day replace the thermionic valve which was the mainstay component of electronic systems. But he had the vision to see that to take existing valve-based circuits and essentially attempt to replace the valves with transistors, would hugely limit the much wider potential that he could see for the new device. He could see all those decades ago how the transistor could pave the way for what in time would become known as integrated circuits, thousands or even millions of transistors crammed into one tiny integrated circuit. Consequently, he embarked on inventing circuits for the transistor “from scratch”, circuits that exploited the unique strengths and capabilities of the transistor; and indeed, his circuits are still right here with us today, for instance, in everyday devices we take for granted: computers, phones, radios, televisions, music systems. Just this early stage of his long profusely creative career was quite possibly responsible for foreshortening – arguably by several decades – the development of the modern electronic capability that we all enjoy today. Professional Institution Membership 
Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) – now incorporated into the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Fellow of the Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers (IERE) – now incorporated into the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Books Contributed To 
“Electronic Measuring Instruments”, 1954, published by Chapman and Hall. “Progression in Nuclear Physics”, Vol 5, January 1956, published by Pergamon. “Handbook of Semiconductor Electronics”, 1956, published by McGraw Hill. References 

1924 births
2021 deaths
Royal Air Force airmen
Military personnel from Cheshire
Academics of the University of Essex
Electrical engineering academics
Alumni of the University of Manchester
Royal Air Force personnel of World War II
British electrical engineers
20th-century British inventors
20th-century British engineers