Maurice Wilkes developed an interest in radio as a child and specialized in radar research during World War II. After the war, Wilkes became involved in pioneering research on the development of computers and is best known for his development of EDSAC, the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator, the first computing machine to make use of the concept of a stored program. Over the last five decades, Wilkes has been actively involved in the formation of a number of computer organizations and associations.

Maurice Vincent Wilkes was born on June 26, 1913, in Dudley, England. His father, Vincent J. Wilkes, was employed at the time on the South Staffordshire estate of the Earl of Dudley. His mother's name is not mentioned in the usual biographical records nor in Wilkes's own autobiography Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer. She is described in the latter reference, however, as "one of a pioneering band...