{{short description|British civil servant and industrialist}} {{Use British English|date=April 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Brian Wynne Oakley | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|FBCS|FInstP}} | image = | image_upright = | landscape = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1927|10|10}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2012|08|17|1927|10|10}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | burial_place = | burial_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | citizenship = [[United Kingdom]] | education = | alma_mater = [[Exeter College, Oxford]] | occupation = [[Civil servant]]<br/>[[Businessman]]<br/>[[Information technologist]] | years_active = 1950–2000 | era = | employer = [[Royal Signals]];<br/>[[Telecommunications Research Establishment]];<br/>[[Government of the UK]]; [[Logica]] | organization = [[British Computer Society]] (President, 1988–1989);<br/>[[Computer Conservation Society]] (Chair, 1996–2000) | agent = | known_for = [[Alvey Programme]] (1983–1987); Helping to save [[Bletchley Park]] | notable_works = | awards = [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]];<br/>Honorary doctorate, [[Sheffield Hallam University]] (1994);<br/>Honorary doctorate, [[University of Essex]] (1998) | style = | height = | boards = Computer Centre, [[University of London]];<br/>[[Logica]] }} '''Brian Wynne Oakley''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|FBCS|FInstP}} (10 October 1927&nbsp;– 17 August 2012)<ref name="The Daily Telegraph">{{cite news| title=Death announcement: Brian Oakley| newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] | date=21 August 2012| accessdate=21 August 2012|url=http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/153058/oakley-brian-wynne-10.10.27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416181144/http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/153058/oakley-brian-wynne-10.10.27|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 April 2014}}</ref> was a British civil servant and industrialist who took a leading role in the area of information technology, especially the 1980s [[Alvey Programme]].

==Career== ===Military service and education=== In [[World War II]], Oakley served with the [[Royal Signals]] as a [[Subaltern (military)|subaltern]].<ref name="resurrection">{{cite journal| first=Martin | last=Campbell-Kelly | author-link=Martin Campbell-Kelly | title=Obituary: Brian Wynne Oakley | journal=Resurrection: The Bulletin of the Computer Conservation Society| volume=60 | page=34 | date=Winter 2012 }}</ref> He then studied science at [[Exeter College, Oxford]].<ref name="essex">[http://www.essex.ac.uk/honorary_graduates/or/1998/brian-oakley-oration.aspx Honorary Graduates — Brian Wynne Oakley, CBE], [[University of Essex]], UK, 9 July 1998.</ref>

===Information technology=== In 1950, Oakley joined the [[Telecommunications Research Establishment]] (TRE)<ref name="resurrection" /> where he undertook research in [[telecommunications]] and civilian applications of military research. He then worked in [[Whitehall]] as a civil servant, joining the [[Ministry of Technology]] under the [[Harold Wilson]] government in 1969. Subsequently, he became the chief official of the [[Science and Engineering Research Council]] (SERC).

Oakley was director of the United Kingdom [[Alvey Programme]] (1983–87), a [[British government]]-sponsored research programme for projects in the area of information technology, initiated as a reaction to the Japanese [[Fifth generation computer]] project.<ref>Brian Oakley and Kenneth Owen, ''Alvey: Britain's Strategic Computing Initiative'', [[MIT Press]], 1990. {{ISBN|0-262-15038-7}}.</ref><ref>[[Martin Campbell-Kelly]], [https://www.jstor.org/pss/3115764 Review of ''Alvey: Britain's Strategic Computing Initiative''], ''[[Business History Review]]'', Vol. 64, No. 3, pages 570–572, Autumn, 1990. [[JSTOR]].</ref> He went on to be chairman of the software company [[Logica]].<ref name="resurrection" /> He chaired the managing board of the Computer Centre of the [[University of London]], a major UK supercomputing centre, and was a director of the European Initiative for Quantum Computing.{{fact|date=August 2024}}

From 1988 to 1989, Oakley was president of the [[British Computer Society]].<ref>[http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=conWebDoc.1635 BCS Past Presidents] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071003141357/http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=conWebDoc.1635 |date=3 October 2007 }}, [[British Computer Society]], UK.</ref> In 1991, on hearing that [[British Telecom]] planned to dispose of its site at [[Bletchley Park]] for housing, together with [[Tony Sale]], he helped to save the site,<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/29/brian_wynne_oakley_obituary/ | title=RIP Brian Wynne Oakley: Saviour of Bletchley Park | first=Gavin | last=Clarke | work=The Register | location=UK | date=29 August 2012 | accessdate=28 December 2012}}</ref> establish the Bletchley Park Trust, and became a director of the Trust.<ref name="resurrection" /> He was chairman of the [[Computer Conservation Society]] from 1996 to 2000.

==Awards and recognition== Oakley was a [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]. He received honorary doctorates from [[Sheffield Hallam University]] (1994)<ref>[http://www.shu.ac.uk/hallampeople/honorary/ Honorary Awards] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090608234721/http://www.shu.ac.uk/hallampeople/honorary/ |date=8 June 2009 }}, [[Sheffield Hallam University]], UK.</ref> and the [[University of Essex]] (1998).<ref name="essex" />

==References== {{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakley, Brian}} [[Category:1927 births]] [[Category:2012 deaths]] [[Category:Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford]] [[Category:Bletchley Park people]] [[Category:British chief executives]] [[Category:British civil servants]] [[Category:British computer scientists]] [[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:History of computing in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:People in information technology]] [[Category:Fellows of the British Computer Society]] [[Category:Fellows of the Institute of Physics]] [[Category:Presidents of the British Computer Society]] [[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]] [[Category:Royal Corps of Signals officers]] [[Category:20th-century British businesspeople]] [[Category:People associated with Sheffield Hallam University]] [[Category:People associated with the University of Essex]]