{{short description|English roboticist}} {{EngvarB|date=January 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Pat Fothergill | birth_name = Ann Patricia Waddington | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1936|2|13}} | birth_place = Woodford Wells, Essex, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2017|1|28|1936|2|13}} | death_place = Stonehaven, Scotland | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | ethnicity = | field = Robotics<br>Programming languages | work_institutions = University of Edinburgh<br>University of Aberdeen | alma_mater = Cambridge University | doctoral_advisor = | thesis_title = | thesis_year = | doctoral_students = | influenced = | known_for = Freddy II<br>RAPT programming language | prizes = | religion = | footnotes = | website = | spouse = Richard Ambler <small>(div. 1990)</small><br>John Fothergill | children = 3 }} '''Ann Patricia''' "'''Pat'''" '''Fothergill''' (''née'' '''Waddington''', formerly '''Ambler'''; 13 February 1936 – 28 January 2017) was a pioneer in robotics and robot control languages in the AI department of the University of Edinburgh. She moved to the University of Aberdeen in 1986 to join the Department of Computing as a senior lecturer, where she remained until her death.<ref name="UoA Profile Page">{{cite web|last=Fothergill|first=Pat|title=University of Aberdeen profile page|url=http://inf.abdn.ac.uk/people/homepage.php?userid=pat|accessdate=21 March 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812225242/http://inf.abdn.ac.uk/people/homepage.php?userid=pat|archivedate=12 August 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Pat Fothergill was born in Woodford Wells, Essex, England in 1936 to an English father Leonard and a Welsh mother Sarah (née Kinton). <ref name="newnham">{{cite book|title=Volume 1 of Newnham College Register, 1871–1971|publisher=Newnham College|page=51}}</ref> During her early childhood, her family moved to Singapore and then to South Africa to accommodate her father's career as a civil engineer.<ref name="aisb">{{cite journal|last1=Sleeman|first1=Derek|title=Pat Fothergill (Pat Ambler): Early worker in robotics and the use of AI in engineering design|journal=AISB Quarterly|date=April 2017|issue=146|pages=4–8|url=http://www.aisb.org.uk/publications/aisbq/AISBQ146.pdf|accessdate=14 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823022546/http://www.aisb.org.uk/publications/aisbq/AISBQ146.pdf|archive-date=23 August 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="newnham"/> She attended Dorking County Grammar School, where she was a Prefect and received the Governors' Prize for her academic achievements.<ref name="dorkinian">{{cite web|title=1954 Dorkinian|url=http://ashcombedorkinian.com/docs/Mag1954/1954_00.htm|website=The Dorkinian|publisher=Ashcombe Dorkinian Association|accessdate=29 March 2017|year=1954}}</ref> She excelled in math and science, studying Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry for her A-Level exams.<ref name="dorkinian"/> She received distinction in Pure Mathematics and a State Scholarship from the UK Ministry of Education to attend Newnham College, Cambridge.<ref name="dorkinian"/>

While at Cambridge, she studied for the Natural Sciences Tripos, specialising in Chemistry, Physics, Biological Chemistry and Mathematics. She also studied for the Archaeological and Anthropological Tripos. She graduated with a BA in 1957 and an MA in 1961.<ref>UA Graduati 12/5. Cambridge University Archives. Retrieved 18 May 2017.</ref><ref>UA Exam.L.91-2. Cambridge University Archives. Retrieved 18 May 2017.</ref>

==Career== Following graduation, Fothergill remained at Cambridge with her first husband Richard Ambler, who was then a graduate student in biological sciences, and worked as the information officer for the organic chemistry department with Alexander R. Todd.<ref name="aisb"/>

She joined the AI laboratory at the University of Edinburgh in 1968 as a research scientist. She helped develop the robot command language RAPT,<ref name="RAPT Article">{{cite journal|last=Ambler|first=A. P.|author2=R. J. Popplestone |author3=I. Bellos |title=RAPT: A language for describing assemblies|journal=The Industrial Robot|year=1978|volume=5|issue=3|pages=131–137|doi=10.1108/eb004501}}</ref> and worked with Robin Popplestone<ref name="RAPT Article" /> and Rod Burstall<ref name="AI Journal">{{cite journal|last=Ambler|first=A. P.|author2=H. G. Barrow |author3=C. M. Brown |author4=R. M. Burstall |author5=R. J. Popplestone |title=A versatile system for computer controlled assembly|journal=Artificial Intelligence|year=1975|volume=6|issue=2|pages=129–156|doi=10.1016/0004-3702(75)90006-5|s2cid=7440337 }}</ref> amongst others.

Whilst at Aberdeen, Pat co-authored the paper "WPFM: the Workspace Prediction and Fast Matching Algorithm"<ref name="WPFM Algorithm">{{cite journal|last=Fothergill|first=A. Pat|author2=Jonathan C Aylett |author3=Robert B Fisher |title=WPFM: The Workspace Prediction and Fast Matching Algorithm|journal=Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems|year=1998|volume=1|pages=185–201|url=http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/BOOKS/MAYHEW/scan/231-238.pdf|accessdate=21 March 2014}}</ref> with Jonathan C Aylett and Robert B Fisher. This was later included in John E. W. Mayhew and John P. Frisby's "3D Model Recognition From Stereoscopic Cues"<ref name="Mayhew 3D Model Recognition">{{cite book|last=Mayhew|first=J. E. W.|title=3D Model Recognition From Stereoscopic Cues|year=1991|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=0-262-13243-5|pages=231–238|url=http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/BOOKS/MAYHEW/}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20170823022546/http://www.aisb.org.uk/publications/aisbq/AISBQ146.pdf Obituary in AISB Quarterly]

{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Fothergill, Pat}} Category:1936 births Category:2017 deaths Category:Academics of the University of Aberdeen Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh Category:Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Category:British artificial intelligence researchers Category:British roboticists Category:British women computer scientists Category:English people of Welsh descent Category:People from the London Borough of Redbridge Category:Programming language researchers Category:Women roboticists