Raspberry Pi's Liz and Eben Upton, the chief marketing and communications officer and CEO of Raspberry Pi Ltd, respectively, have received honorary fellowships from the UK’s National Museum of Computing for their services to computer science.
Located at Bletchley Park, the heart of the nation’s codebreaking efforts during the Second World War, and the place Alan Turing helped invent the first programmable, electronic, digital computer (Colossus), the museum now includes displays of computers from the 1960s onward, along with a functioning Colossus Mark II.
The honorary fellowships are for “outstanding contributions towards the history and ongoing development of computing,” through the creation of the Raspberry Pi boards, and recognize the effect the Uptons have had on the lives of millions of people. “Together,” the announcement reads, “ they have built a global community of programmers and created a vibrant global network of computing enthusiasts”.
While the first Raspberry Pi computer prototype was built in 2006, with boards available to buy in 2012, the idea dates back to 2000. Eben Upton, a former director of studies in computer science at St John's College, Cambridge, saw that applications to study the subject were declining. Inspired by Acorn’s BBC Micro designs of the 1980s, the project aimed to teach basic computer science in British schools as well as in developing countries. It became more popular than anticipated, racking up 46 million in sales across all versions by February 2022.
Upon receiving the fellowship, Liz Upton said: “Eben and I are delighted to accept this Honorary Fellowship and we are touched by the kind words of this passionate community. The National Museum of Computing does such vital work, and we are both relishing the prospect of using our platform to highlight the importance of its collection and its educational mission.”
A ceremony honoring the couple will be held at Bletchley Park on December 3, 2022.
