Communications

Dr James Martin: a major influence in the world of computer science

Addressing the Commonwealth Day theme of 'Science, Technology and Society', Dr Martin will deliver the 13th annual Commonwealth Lecture at The Royal Institution of Great Britain on 28 April.

Author of 'The Meaning of the 21st Century' and founder of the James Martin 21st Century School at the University of Oxford, Dr Martin is highly regarded as an exhilarating and thought-provoking lecturer.

The Commonwealth Lecture aims to stimulate understanding, discussion and debate on the Commonwealth and its role in world affairs. It has become a forceful annual affirmation of the Commonwealth's fundamental goals and values. These include a commitment to democracy, human rights and pro-poor development; and a determination to address intolerance and injustice through building bridges between peoples.

The Commonwealth Lecture is organised by the Commonwealth Foundation in partnership with the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Royal Over-Seas League.

Admission to the lecture is free. Tickets are limited and will be available here from 15 March. Advance booking essential. 

Wednesday 28 April, 6.30pm

Faraday Theatre
The Royal Institution of Great Britain
21 Albemarle Street
London W1S 4BS 

Biography

• James Martin has written 102 textbooks, some of which were seminal works that changed perceptions in the Information Technology (IT) industry. Computerworld, in its 25th anniversary issue, ranked Martin fourth among the 25 individuals who have most influenced the world of computer science.
• Martin has made several hundred videotapes, most of them education tapes produced by Deltak between 1978 and 1994.
• The Wired Society, written by Martin in 1977 was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and contained remarkably accurate and timely descriptions of the use of computers and the Internet 25 years later. Martin is well known for the accuracy of his predictions about high technology and its impact on modern society. In his book Technology's Crucible, published in 1987, there is a scenario that depicts Arab terrorists and a major terrorist attack on New York City in 1998.
• In addition to his Litt.D. from Oxford University, Martin has received honorary doctorates from all six continents.
• He has commonly been referred to in the IT press as the "Father of CASE" (Computer-Aided Systems Engineering) - tools that help automate software development. The original prototypes for the Texas Instruments and KnowledgeWare CASE tools were built in Martin's home under his direction. In the late 1980s these became the two leading CASE tools.
• In the early 1990s Martin was a member of the software Scientific Advisory Board of the U.S. Department of Defense.
• Martin founded WatchIT, a company making computerized education for IT professionals. He founded James Martin and Company, now called "Headstrong," which has a leading-edge reputation for ultra-complex systems development.
• From 1975 to 2001 Martin gave 5-day seminars on IT. Martin was of the very few people who both a leading business "guru" and a leading technology "guru." He was constantly in demand to lecture to big audiences around the world, and meet leadership people. For three decades he was able to observe firsthand the rapidly worsening problems of the planet, and discuss practical actions that can be taken to alleviate them. These actions, he believes, eventually will lead to radical changes in civilization - the subject of his new book, "The Meaning of the 21st Century."
• Because this subject requires much research and education, Martin founded the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization, and then the groundbreaking large-scale James Martin 21st-Century School at the University of Oxford. Its mission is to utilize integrated scholarship across a range of disciplines to identify, research and find solutions to the biggest challenges facing humanity in the 21st Century. The School is bringing together brilliant scholars and practitioners from around the world to, pursue world-class leading-edge research, teach, and influence policy in areas that are critical to the 21st century.
• Martin is a Senior Fellow of the James Martin Center for Non-Proliferation Studies in the Monterey Institute. The nuclear situation is the subject of his next book.
• Martin is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science.
• Martin's book "The Meaning of the 21st Century" has been made into a gripping and extremely important 2-hour film.

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