Frank Sumner Papers

Most of the papers relate to Sumner's research work in the 1950s on computational chemistry, and his programming work on the University of Manchester's Mark I computer, undertaken with Huw Pritchard. The collection includes some rare Mathematical Computing Laboratory programming sheets.

Frank Sumner was an important figure in the development of academic computing in the UK.

Sumner originally studied chemistry at the University of Manchester, graduating with a B.Sc. in 1951, followed a Ph.D. in 1954. His Ph.D. "The Application of Electronic Computers to Molecular Orbital Calculations", supervised by Christopher Longuet-Higgins, had made pioneering use of Manchester's Ferranti Mark I computer for computational chemistry. After Longuet-Higgins left the University, Sumner worked with Huw Pritchard to develop better programming techniques with the Mark I, and collaborated with Alan Turing and Tony Brooker of the Mathematical Computing Laboratory (and authors of the successive editions of the Mark I programming manual).

He then joined the University's Department of Electrical Engineering (Computer Science became a separate department in 1964). Sumner was heavily involved in the design of the new Ferranti Atlas computer, contributing to the logical design of the central processing unit and the implementation of virtual memory. He was appointed professor of computing science at Manchester in 1967.

Sumner was active in both the academic and administrative development of computing at the University. He played a major role in the MU5 project and helped establish the academic credentials of computing science as a degree subject. Sumner was also heavily involved in the University's own development of its computing capacity. He was director of the Administrative Computer Unit from 1968 to 1986, and also served as part-time consultant and later director of the Regional Computer Centre, which provided academic computing services for the University and others in a regional consortium.

In 1980, Sumner's chair was converted to the Barclays professor of microprocessor applications in industry, a title which was retained until the mid-1990s. Sumner finally retired from the Department in 1998.

Sumner was president of the British Computer Society 1978/79, and was an active member of the Computer Conservation Society.

The collection is open to any accredited reader.

The collection includes material which is subject to the Data Protection Act 2018. Under the Act 2018 (DPA), The University of Manchester Library (UML) holds the right to process personal data for archiving and research purposes. In accordance with the DPA, UML has made every attempt to ensure that all personal and sensitive personal data has been processed fairly, lawfully and accurately. Users of the archive are expected to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018, and will be required to sign a form acknowledging that they will abide by the requirements of the Act in any further processing of the material by themselves.

Open parts of this collection, and the catalogue descriptions, may contain personal data about living individuals. Some items in this collection may be closed to public inspection in line with the requirements of the DPA. Restrictions/closures of specific items will be indicated in the catalogue.

The collection was donated to the Library by Professor Jim Miles (Department of Computer Science) in March 2022.

Photocopies and photographic copies of material in the archive can be supplied for private study purposes only, depending on the condition of the documents.

A number of items within the archive remain within copyright under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; it is the responsibility of users to obtain the copyright holder's permission for reproduction of copyright material for purposes other than research or private study.

Prior written permission must be obtained from the Library for publication or reproduction of any material within the archive. Please contact the Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3EH.

The History of Computing Collection includes large collections for Department of Computer Science and its various projects MUCAdditional: MUC/5-9. There are numerous papers in these collections concerning Sumner's work.

The Department of Computer Science's own archive tends to contain more generically administrative information, in common with other departmental archives. However, it does also provide additional information about major projects such as the MU5 DCS

The Durward Cruickshank papers also relate to computational chemistry, DWC, although does not appear that he worked with Sumner in the 1950s.