Dear all, This November marks 100 years since the birth of Christopher Strachey. We are holding a symposium to celebrate his life and research in Oxford on Saturday 19th November. There will also be an exhibition of material from the Strachey archive on Friday 18th November, followed by a banquet dinner at Hertford College on the evening of Friday 18th November. For more information and to register for attendance, please go to http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/strachey100/. ------------------------------- Christopher Strachey (1916–1975) was a pioneering computer scientist and the founder of the Programming Research Group, now part of the Department of Computer Science at Oxford University. Although Strachey was keenly interested in the practical aspects of computing, it is in the theoretical side that he most indelibly left his mark, notably by creating with Dana Scott the denotational (or as he called it, ‘mathematical’) approach to defining the semantics of programming languages—undoubtedly influential in the development of functional programming. Strachey also spent time writing complex programs and puzzles for various computers, such as a draughts playing program for the Pilot ACE in 1951. He developed some fundamental concepts of machine-independent operating systems, including an early suggestion for time-sharing, and was a prime mover in the influential CPL programming language. Strachey came from a notable family of intellectuals and artists, perhaps most famous for Christopher’s uncle Lytton, a writer and member of the Bloomsbury group. We will be marking the occasion of 100 years since Christopher Strachey's birth on Saturday 19th November 2016, three days after his birthday, with a symposium of invited speakers. The morning will look back at Strachey’s life and works from a historical and technical perspective, and the afternoon will concern the future of Strachey-inspired theoretical computer science, including functional programming, at Oxford University. There will also be a display of related archival material on Friday 18th November for anyone interested, and a banquet dinner at Hertford College on the evening of Friday 18th November. Hope to see many of you there. Best, Troy Astarte