Pat Fothergill

Ann Patricia "Pat" Fothergill (née Waddington, formerly Ambler; 13 February 1936 – 28 January 2017) was a pioneer in robotics and robot control languages in the AI department of the University of Edinburgh. She moved to the University of Aberdeen in 1986 to join the Department of Computing as a senior lecturer, where she remained until her death.[1]

Pat Fothergill
Born
Ann Patricia Waddington

(1936-02-13)13 February 1936
Woodford Wells, Essex, England
Died28 January 2017(2017-01-28) (aged 80)
Stonehaven, Scotland
Alma materCambridge University
Known forFreddy II
RAPT programming language
Spouse(s)Richard Ambler (div. 1990)
John Fothergill
Children3
Scientific career
FieldsRobotics
Programming languages
InstitutionsUniversity of Edinburgh
University of Aberdeen

Early life and education

Pat Fothergill was born in Woodford Wells, Essex, England in 1936 to an English father Leonard and a Welsh mother Sarah (née Kinton). [2] During her early childhood, her family moved to Singapore and then to South Africa to accommodate her father's career as a civil engineer.[3][2] She attended Dorking County Grammar School, where she was a Prefect and received the Governors' Prize for her academic achievements.[4] She excelled in math and science, studying Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry for her A-Level exams.[4] She received distinction in Pure Mathematics and a State Scholarship from the UK Ministry of Education to attend Newnham College, Cambridge.[4]

While at Cambridge, she studied for the Natural Sciences Tripos, specialising in Chemistry, Physics, Biological Chemistry and Mathematics. She also studied for the Archaeological and Anthropological Tripos. She graduated with a BA in 1957 and an MA in 1961.[5][6]

Career

Following graduation, Fothergill remained at Cambridge with her first husband Richard Ambler, who was then a graduate student in biological sciences, and worked as the information officer for the organic chemistry department with Alexander R. Todd.[3]

She joined the AI laboratory at the University of Edinburgh in 1968 as a research scientist. She helped develop the robot command language RAPT,[7] and worked with Robin Popplestone[7] and Rod Burstall[8] amongst others.

Whilst at Aberdeen, Pat co-authored the paper "WPFM: the Workspace Prediction and Fast Matching Algorithm"[9] with Jonathan C Aylett and Robert B Fisher. This was later included in John E. W. Mayhew and John P. Frisby's "3D Model Recognition From Stereoscopic Cues"[10]

References
  1. Fothergill, Pat. "University of Aberdeen profile page". Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  2. Volume 1 of Newnham College Register, 1871–1971. Newnham College. p. 51.
  3. Sleeman, Derek (April 2017). "Pat Fothergill (Pat Ambler): Early worker in robotics and the use of AI in engineering design" (PDF). AISB Quarterly (146): 4–8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  4. "1954 Dorkinian". The Dorkinian. Ashcombe Dorkinian Association. 1954. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  5. UA Graduati 12/5. Cambridge University Archives. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  6. UA Exam.L.91-2. Cambridge University Archives. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  7. Ambler, A. P.; R. J. Popplestone; I. Bellos (1978). "RAPT: A language for describing assemblies". The Industrial Robot. 5 (3): 131–137. doi:10.1108/eb004501.
  8. Ambler, A. P.; H. G. Barrow; C. M. Brown; R. M. Burstall; R. J. Popplestone (1975). "A versatile system for computer controlled assembly". Artificial Intelligence. 6 (2): 129–156. doi:10.1016/0004-3702(75)90006-5.
  9. Fothergill, A. Pat; Jonathan C Aylett; Robert B Fisher (1998). "WPFM: The Workspace Prediction and Fast Matching Algorithm" (PDF). Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems. 1: 185–201. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  10. Mayhew, J. E. W. (1991). 3D Model Recognition From Stereoscopic Cues. MIT Press. pp. 231–238. ISBN 0-262-13243-5.
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