John Fitch (computer scientist)

Born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England in December 1945,[1] Fitch was educated at St John's College, Cambridge where he gained a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1971 supervised by David Barton.[2][11][12]

Fitch spent six years at Cambridge as a postdoctoral researcher - winning the Adams Prize for Mathematics in 1975 for a joint essay with David Barton on Applications of algebraic manipulative systems to physics.

Fitch was a visiting professor the University of Utah for a year, then lectured at the University of Leeds for 18 months, before becoming professor and then chair of software engineering at the University of Bath,[12] which his biography claims is "a subject about which he knows little"; his 31-year career there lasted April 1980 – September 2011,[12] after which he was named an adjunct professor of music at Maynooth University.[13][14]

Fitch lectured for the module CM20029: The Essence of Compilers, as well as optional modules involving computer music and digital signal processing. According to his biography, "despite his long hair and beard,[15] and the uncertain spelling of his name, [he] was never a hippie".[16][17]

His former doctoral students include James Davenport[2] and Tom Crick.[3]

Fitch is married to historian Audrey Fitch.