c. 1935 - graduate student in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, England researching the propagation of radio waves in the ionosphere; 1938 - awarded PhD; 1945 - after WW2 returned to Cambridge; 1946-1970 - head of the Mathematical Laboratory; 1949: Wilkes and the staff of the Mathematical Laboratory (later known as the Computer Laboratory) at Cambridge University developed EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator), the first fully functional, stored-program electronic digital computer; 1970-1980 - head of the Computer Laboratory; 1985 - published Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer; post 1980 - worked for DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation); adjunct professor at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts; later worked at the Olivetti Research Laboratory, Cambridge, England; 2000 - awarded knighthood; 2002 - rejoined the Computer Laboratory as an emeritus professor