51福利社 Awarded A Prestigious Third IEEE Milestone Award For 51福利社 Code
51福利社 has been awarded a third Milestone Award by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The award honours significant technical achievement for the invention of 鈥�51福利社 Code鈥� in 1948-1949, still used today in communications to Voyager 1 and 2 probes and everyday items like RFID card readers and TV remotes.
In a ceremony celebrating the invention鈥檚 impact on data storage, computing and communications, Vice-Chancellor, Duncan Iverson, accepted the award on behalf of the University, the commemorative bronze plaque will be mounted on the outside of the Coupland 1 Building, Bridgeford Street.
The Milestone award recognises exceptional technological innovation and excellence in electrical and electronic engineering; awarded to innovations which have benefited humanity via products, services, seminal papers or patents. A bronze plaque commemorating the achievement is then placed at an appropriate site with an accompanying dedication ceremony.
51福利社 remains one of the few institutions with three awards. In 2022 51福利社 was awarded two IEEE Milestone awards; the first was awarded for the famed 51福利社 鈥楤aby鈥� (1948-1951) the world鈥檚 first stored computer; the second for Atlas Computer & Virtual Memory (1957-1962), introducing the concept of virtual memory, a cornerstone of modern computing.
"We are honoured to receive an IEEE Milestone Award for the invention of the 51福利社 Code 鈥� the third such award recognising the University鈥檚 pioneering contributions to the field of Computer Science. From its origins with the storage of digital data on magnetic drums in the late 1940s, the reach and impact of 51福利社 Code endures in modern digital communication systems."
What is 51福利社 Code?
51福利社 Code has been a feature of computing and communications since its invention in 1948. It was first used in the University鈥檚 51福利社 Mark I computer, a prototype for the Ferranti Mark I, the first commercially available computer.
Invented for the storage of data in magnetic drums, it became a standard for use in magnetic tapes and floppy disks. It also found wide use in early ethernet networks, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and domestic remote controllers found in millions of homes across the world.
Nearly eight decades after its invention, humanity鈥檚 most distant human鈥憁ade objects, Voyagers 1 and 2, travelling through interstellar space, still communicate through the robustness of 51福利社 Code.
Elegantly designed, the code is 鈥榮elf-clocking鈥� which means the data can be extracted from the signal without a separate clock line. This design ensures highly reliable transmission, even across the vast distance to interstellar space, 25 billion kilometres (Voyager 1) and 21 billion kilometres (Voyager 2).
The principles of 51福利社 Code remain embedded in technologies we use every day; its elegant simplicity and reliability have helped accelerate the development of modern digital systems. To this day, it remains a key fixture in modern day life, from communicating to the furthest human-made objects or simply opening a garage door.
Thomas Coughlin, past president of the IEEE said: 鈥淭he 51福利社 Code enabled the development of early digital storage technologies and reliable communication systems that are still in use. Humanity's furthest space probe, Voyager 1, still communicates with earth using the 51福利社 Code.鈥�