View source for Andy Hopper

{{short description|British computer scientist (born 1953)}}
{{about||the member of the Texas House of Representatives|Andy Hopper (politician)}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox scientist
| image             = Andy Hopper.jpg
| image_size        = 250px
| honorific-prefix  = [[Professor]]
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|FRS|FIET|FREng|size=100%}}
| name              = Sir Andy Hopper
| birth_name        = Andrew Hopper
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1953|5|9|df=y}}<ref name="whoswho">{{Who's Who | title=HOPPER, Sir Andrew | id = U20751 | year = 2024 | edition = online [[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.20751}}</ref>
| birth_place       = [[Warsaw]], Poland
| death_date        = 
| death_place       = 
| nationality       = British
| field             = [[Computer Technology]]
| work_institutions = {{ubl|[[University of Cambridge]]|[[Swansea University]]}}
| alma_mater        = {{ubl|[[Swansea University]] (BSc)|[[University of Cambridge]] (PhD)}}
| doctoral_advisor  = [[David Wheeler (computer scientist)|David Wheeler]]<ref name="mathgene">{{MathGenealogy|id=82545}}</ref>
| doctoral_students = [[Andy Harter]]<ref name=harterphd>{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|url=http://ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=9303|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511666384|title=Three-dimensional integrated circuit layout|first= Andrew Charles|last=Harter|date=1990|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.335724}}|website=lib.cam.ac.uk|oclc=321015651|isbn=9780511666384|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
| thesis_year       = 1978
| thesis_title      = Local area computer communications networks
| thesis_url        = http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.459643
| known_for         = {{ubl|[[Acorn Computers]]|Active Badge|[[Virata Corporation]]|[[Virtual Network Computing]]<ref name="vnc"/>|[[RealVNC]]}}
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| prizes            = {{ubl
|[[Institution of Engineering and Technology|Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology]] (1989)
|[[Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering]] (1996)
|[[Mountbatten Medal]] (2004)
|{{nowrap|[[Fellow of the Royal Society]] (2006)<ref name=frs>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123150416/https://royalsociety.org/people/andrew-hopper-11641/ |archive-date=2015-11-23 |url=https://royalsociety.org/people/andrew-hopper-11641/ |publisher=[[Royal Society]] |location=London |author=Anon |year=2006 |website=royalsociety.org |title=Professor Andrew Hopper CBE FREng FRS }} One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: {{blockquote|"All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under [[Creative Commons license|Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License]]." --{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |title=Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies |access-date=2016-03-09 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925220834/https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |archive-date=25 September 2015 |df=dmy-all }}}}</ref>}}
|[[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] (2007)<ref name=cbebbc>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/6217283.stm Andy Hopper, IT innovator, awarded CBE]</ref>
|[[MacRobert Award]] (2013)
|[[Royal Society Bakerian Medal|Bakerian Medal]] (2017) }}
| footnotes         = 
| website           = {{URL|http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~ah12}}
| spouse            = {{marriage|[[Alison Gail Smith]]|1988}}<ref name="whoswho"/>
}}
'''Sir Andrew Hopper''' (born 9 May 1953)<ref name="whoswho"/> is a British-Polish computer technologist and entrepreneur.  He is Chairman of lowRISC CIC, a Commissioner of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, former Treasurer and Vice-President of the Royal Society, Professor Emeritus of Computer Technology at the University of Cambridge, an [[Honorary title (academic)|Honorary Fellow]] of [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]<ref name="dblp">{{DBLP|name=Andy Hopper}}</ref><ref name="microsoft">{{AcademicSearch|610827}} {{dead link|date=December 2016}}</ref> and [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]].<ref name=alan>[https://www.sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1121912 Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 22 May 2008 (video)]</ref>

==Education==
Hopper was educated at [[Quintin Kynaston Community Academy|Quintin Kynaston School in London]]<ref name="whoswho"/> after which he went to study for a Bachelor of Science degree at [[Swansea University]] before going to the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]] in 1974 for postgraduate work.<ref name="mathgene"/> Hopper was awarded his PhD in 1978 for research into [[Local area network|local area computer communications networks]] supervised by [[David Wheeler (British computer scientist)|David Wheeler]].<ref name="hopperphd">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Andy|last=Hopper |title=Local Area Computer Communication Networks |publisher=University of Cambridge |date=1978 |url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.459643|author-link1 = Andy Hopper}}</ref>

==Research and career==
Hopper's PhD, completed in 1977 was in the field of communications networks, and he worked with [[Maurice Wilkes]] on the creation of the [[Cambridge Ring (computer network)|Cambridge Ring]] and its successors.<ref>{{cite web |title=Andy Hopper |url=http://www-g.eng.cam.ac.uk/125/now/ah.html |website=eng.cam.ac.uk |access-date=7 September 2021}}</ref>

Hopper's interests include [[Computer Network|computer network]]s, [[Multimedia Framework|multimedia systems]],<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Hopper | first1 = A. | author-link1 = Andy Hopper| title = Pandora - an experimental system for multimedia applications | doi = 10.1145/382258.382788 | journal = ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review | volume = 24 | issue = 2 | pages = 19–34 | year = 1990 | s2cid = 14492233 |url = http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/dtg/attarchive/pub/docs/att/tr.90.1.pdf}}</ref> [[Virtual Network Computing]],<ref name="vnc">{{Cite journal | last1 = Richardson | first1 = T. | last2 = Stafford-Fraser | first2 = Q. | last3 = Wood | first3 = K. R. | last4 = Hopper | first4 = A. | author-link4 = Andy Hopper | title = Virtual network computing | doi = 10.1109/4236.656066 | journal = IEEE Internet Computing | volume = 2 | pages = 33–38 | year = 1998 | url = http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/DTG/attarchive/pub/docs/att/tr.98.1.pdf | citeseerx = 10.1.1.17.5625 | s2cid = 10282844 | access-date = 28 August 2015 | archive-date = 13 May 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060513100308/http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/DTG/attarchive/pub/docs/att/tr.98.1.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref> [[sentient computing]]<ref name="patterson">{{Cite journal | last1 = Hopper | first1 = A. | author-link1 = Andy Hopper| title = The Clifford Paterson Lecture, 1999. Sentient computing | doi = 10.1098/rsta.2000.0652 | journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences | volume = 358 | issue = 1773 | pages   =2349–2358| year = 2000 | url = http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/dtg/attarchive/pub/docs/att/tr.1999.12.pdf| bibcode = 2000RSPTA.358.2349H | s2cid = 122021259 }}</ref> and ubiquitous data. His most cited paper describes the indoor location system called the Active Badge.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Want | first1 = R. | last2 = Hopper | first2 = A.| author-link2 = Andy Hopper | last3 = Falcão | first3 = V. | last4 = Gibbons | first4 = J. | title = The active badge location system | doi = 10.1145/128756.128759 | journal = ACM Transactions on Information Systems | volume = 10 | pages = 91–102 | year = 1992 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.17.339 | s2cid = 399279 }}</ref> He has contributed to a discussion of the privacy challenges relating to surveillance.<ref>{{cite news|title=Dilemmas of Privacy and Surveillance |url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/policy/reports/pdf/dilemmas_of_privacy_and_surveillance_report.pdf |publisher=[[Royal Academy of Engineering]] |date=March 2007 |access-date=8 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010214247/http://www.raeng.org.uk/policy/reports/pdf/dilemmas_of_privacy_and_surveillance_report.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2007 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> He is a proponent of Digital Commons industrial and societal infrastructure.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bio |url=https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~ah12/Digital%20Commons%20v4.html |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=www.cl.cam.ac.uk}}</ref>

After more than 20 years at Cambridge University Computer Laboratory, Hopper was elected Chair of Communications Engineering at Cambridge University Engineering Department in 1997. He returned to the Computer Laboratory as Professor of Computer Technology and Head of Department in 2004. 

Hopper's research under the title ''Computing for the Future of the Planet'' examines the uses of computers, data and AI for assuring the sustainability of the planet.<ref>{{cite news| title = The Tech Lab: Andy Hopper| url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8014248.stm | publisher = [[BBC]] | date = 23 April 2009| access-date = 8 July 2009}}</ref>

Hopper has supervised approximately fifty PhD students.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}} An annual PhD studentship has been named after him.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gardner |first=Rachel |date=2023-10-18 |title=Announcing the Hopper Studentship |url=https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/news/announcing-hopper-studentship |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=www.cst.cam.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>

===Commercial activities===
In 1978, Hopper co-founded Orbis Ltd to develop networking technologies. He worked with [[Hermann Hauser]] and [[Christopher Curry (businessman)|Chris Curry]], founders of [[Acorn Computers Ltd]]. Orbis became a division of Acorn in 1979 and continued to work with the Cambridge Ring. While at Acorn, Hopper contributed to design some of the chips for the [[BBC Micro]] and helped conceive the project which led to the design of the ARM microprocessor.<ref>{{cite web|title=Oral history of British science|url=https://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Science/021M-C1379X0010XX-0004V0| publisher = [[British Library]] | date = June 2010}}</ref> When Acorn was acquired by [[Olivetti]] in 1985, Hauser became vice-president for research at Olivetti, in which role he co-founded the [[Olivetti Research Laboratory]] in 1986 with Hopper; Hopper became its managing director.

In 1985, after leaving Acorn, Hopper co-founded Qudos, a company producing [[computer-aided design|CAD]] software and doing chip prototyping. He remained a director until 1989.<ref>{{cite web|title=An interview with Andy Hopper|url=http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/DO/filmshow/hopper2_fast.htm | publisher = Alan McFarlane | date = May 2008}}</ref>

In 1993, Hopper set up [[Advanced Telecommunication Modules Ltd]] with [[Hermann Hauser]]. This company went public on the NASDAQ as [[Virata Corporation|Virata]] in 1999. The company was acquired by [[Conexant|Conexant Systems]] on 1 March 2004.

In 1995, Hopper co-founded Telemedia Systems, now called IPV, and was its chairman until 2003.<ref>{{cite web|title=It started like this...he Growth of Enterprise Networks and Entrepreneurial Eco Systems in Cambridge and around the World |url=https://alanbarrell.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/HEEG.pdf | publisher = Alan Barrell | date = Apr 2012}}</ref>

In 1997, Hopper co-founded Adaptive Broadband Ltd (ABL) to further develop the 'Wireless ATM' project started at ORL in the early 90s. ABL was bought by California Microwave, Inc in 1998.

In January 2000, Hopper co-founded [[Cambridge Broadband]] which was to develop broadband fixed wireless equipment; he was non-executive chairman from 2000 – 2005.

In 2002 Hopper was involved in the founding of Ubisense Ltd to further develop the location technologies and [[sentient computing]] concepts that grew out of the ORL Active Badge system. Hopper became a director in 2003 and was chairman between 2006 and 2015 during which the company made its [[initial public offering|initial public offering (IPO)]] in June 2011.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ubisense IPO ends five and a half-year wait |url=http://www.cabume.co.uk/the-cluster/ubisense-ipo-ends-five-and-a-half-year-wait.html |publisher=Cambridge Business Media |date=22 June 2011 |access-date=29 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206050907/http://www.cabume.co.uk/the-cluster/ubisense-ipo-ends-five-and-a-half-year-wait.html |archive-date=6 February 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

In 2002, Hopper co-founded [[RealVNC]] and served as chairman until the company was sold in 2021.

In 2002, Hopper co-founded Level 5 Networks and was a director until 2008,<ref>{{cite web|title=XILINX TECHNOLOGY LTD Company Information | url= https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04441386/filing-history?page=3 |publisher=[[Companies House]]}}</ref> just after it merged with Solarflare.

From 2005 until 2009, Hopper was chairman of Adventiq, a joint venture between [[Adder Technology|Adder]] and [[RealVNC]], developing a VNC-based system-on-a-chip.

In 2013 Hopper co-founded TxtEz, a company looking to commoditise B2C communication in Africa.<ref>{{cite web|title=TXTEZ LIMITED Company Information | url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08283627 |publisher=[[Companies House]]}}</ref>

Since 2019 he has been Chairman of lowRISC<ref>{{Cite web |title=lowRISC: Collaborative open silicon engineering |url=https://lowrisc.org/ |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=lowrisc.org}}</ref> Community Interest Company which develops industrial-strength open source hardware.

Hopper was an advisor to Hauser's venture capital firm Amadeus Capital Partners from 2001 until 2005.<ref>{{cite web|title=The people who make it happen (part 1) | url=https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2009/01/the-people-who-make-it-happen-part-one/ | publisher=[[Engineering_%26_Technology]] | date = January 2009}}</ref>
He was also an advisor to the Cambridge Gateway Fund from 2001 until 2006.

===Awards and honours===
Hopper is a [[Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology]] (FIET) and was a Trustee from 2003 until 2006,<ref>{{cite news| title = Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees| url =http://www.theiet.org/about/organisation/bot/pdf/september06.cfm | publisher = Institution of Engineering and Technology | date = 13 September 2006| access-date = 8 July 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090619110707/http://www.theiet.org/about/organisation/bot/pdf/september06.cfm| archive-date= 19 June 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref> and again between 2009 and 2013. In 2004, Hopper was awarded the [[Mountbatten Medal]] of the [[Institution of Engineering and Technology|IET]] (then IEE).<ref>{{cite news|title=Prestigious Mountbatten Medal Awarded To Professor Andy Hopper |url=http://www2.theiet.org/News/PressRel/z10nov2004.cfm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070422084001/http://www2.theiet.org/News/PressRel/z10nov2004.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 April 2007 |publisher=Institution of Engineering and Technology |date=10 November 2004 |access-date=8 July 2009 }}</ref> He served as president of the IET between 2012 and 2013.<ref>{{cite news | title = The IET Welcomes its new President | url =http://www.theiet.org/membership/member-news/30a/andy-hopper-welcome.cfm}}</ref>

Hopper was elected a [[Fellow]] of the [[Royal Academy of Engineering]]<ref name="whoswho"/> in 1996 and awarded their silver medal in 2003.
He was a member of the Council of the Royal Academy of Engineering from 2007 to 2010.<ref>{{cite news| title = Council News| url =http://www.raeng.org.uk/about/fellowship/pdf/newsletter/Autumn_News_2007.pdf | publisher = Royal Academy of Engineering | date = Autumn 2007| access-date = 8 July 2009}}</ref> In 2013, he was part of the RealVNC team to receive the MacRobert Award.<ref>{{cite news| title = Software company RealVNC wins UK's premier engineering prize| url =https://www.raeng.org.uk/news/news-releases/2013/July/software-company-realvnc-wins-uks-premier-prize | publisher = Royal Academy of Engineering | date = July 2013| access-date = 11 Dec 2017}}</ref>

In 1999, Hopper gave the [[Royal Society]]'s [[Clifford Paterson Lecture]]<ref name="patterson"/> on ''Progress and research in the communications industry'' published under the title ''Sentinent Computing'' and was thus awarded the society's bronze medal for achievement.  In May 2006, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was a member of the Council of the Royal Society between 2009 and 2011. In 2017, Hopper become treasurer and vice-president of the Royal Society<ref>{{cite web | title=Professor Andy Hopper named new Royal Society Treasurer | website=Royal Society | date=2017-08-22 | url=https://royalsociety.org/news/2017/05/professor-andy-hopper-named-new-royal-society-treasurer/ | ref={{sfnref | Royal Society | 2017}} | access-date=2017-12-13}}</ref> and was awarded the Bakerian Lecture and Prize.<ref>{{cite web | title=Bakerian Medal and Lecture | website=Royal Society | date=2017-11-28 | url=https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/awards/bakerian-lecture/ | ref={{sfnref | Royal Society | 2017}} | access-date=2017-12-13}}</ref>

In the [[2007 New Year Honours]], Hopper was made an [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] for services to the computer industry.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6217447.stm | work=BBC News | title=UK home computer pioneer honoured | date=30 December 2006 | access-date=25 April 2010}}</ref>

In 2004, Hopper was awarded the [[Association for Computing Machinery]]'s [[SIGMOBILE]] Outstanding Contribution Award<ref>{{cite web|title=Outstanding Contribution Award |url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/policy/reports/pdf/dilemmas_of_privacy_and_surveillance_report.pdf |publisher=[[SIGMOBILE]] |access-date=8 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010214247/http://www.raeng.org.uk/policy/reports/pdf/dilemmas_of_privacy_and_surveillance_report.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2007 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> and in 2016 the Test-of-Time Award for the Active Badge paper.<ref>{{cite web | title=Test-of-Time Paper Award | website=SIGMOBILE | url=https://www.sigmobile.org/awards/tta.html | ref={{sfnref | SIGMOBILE}} | access-date=2017-12-13}}</ref>

In July 2005, Hopper was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of [[Swansea University]].

In 2010 Hopper was awarded an Honorary Degree from Queen's University Belfast.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/TheUniversity/GeneralServices/News/ArchivesPressReleases-CampusNews/2010PressReleases/07-2010PressReleases/| work=Queen's University Belfast | title=Queen's University Belfast – 07-2010 Press Releases| access-date=27 November 2011}}</ref>

In 2011 Hopper was elected as member of the Council and Trustee of the University of Cambridge and a member of the Finance Committee.<ref>{{cite journal |title=none|date=December 2011|journal=[[Cambridge University Reporter]]|author=Anon |volume=CXLI |issue=7 |pages=61 }}</ref>

Hopper serves on several academic advisory boards. In 2005, he was appointed to the advisory board of the [[ECIT|Institute of Electronics Communications and Information Technology]] at [[Queen's University Belfast]].<ref>{{cite news| title = Times Higher Education – On the move...| url =http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=206479&sectioncode=26 | work = [[The Times]] | date = 2 November 2006| access-date = 29 November 2011}}</ref> In 2008 he joined the advisory board of the [[Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford]].  In 2011 he was appointed a member of the advisory board of the School of Computer and Communication Sciences at the [[École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne]].<ref>{{cite news| title = IC Advisory Board| url =http://ic.epfl.ch/page-63299-en.html| publisher = [[École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne]] | access-date = 29 November 2011}}</ref>

Since 2018 he has been a Commissioner of the [[Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851]].

He was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in the [[2021 Birthday Honours]] for services to computer technology.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=63377|supp=y|page=B2|date=12 June 2021}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Hopper married [[Alison Gail Smith]], Professor of Plant Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, in 1988.<ref name="whoswho"/><ref name=wife>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418233148/http://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Eminent-scientists/021M-C1379X0010XX-0001V0 |url=http://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Eminent-scientists/021M-C1379X0010XX-0001V0#_ |archive-date=18 April 2012 |title=Hopper, Andy (Part 1 of 7). An Oral History of British Science |publisher=[[British Library]] |website=sounds.bl.uk |url-status=dead }}</ref> They have two children, William and Merrill.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}} He is a qualified pilot with over 6,000 hours logged, including a round the world flight, and his house near Cambridge has an airstrip from which he flies his six-seater [[Cessna]] light aircraft.

== References ==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopper, Andy}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Members of the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory]]
[[Category:British computer scientists]]
[[Category:British technology company founders]]
[[Category:Acorn Computers]]
[[Category:Alumni of Swansea University]]
[[Category:Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Institution of Engineering and Technology]]
[[Category:Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Warsaw]]
[[Category:British businesspeople]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]
[[Category:People from Little Shelford]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]