Steve Furber: Reverse Engineering the Human Brain (REPLAY)

Danielle Newnham Podcast

As April 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of the Arm architecture, I am re-releasing my episode with Steve Furber. What began as an ambitious project in a small corner of Cambridge, U.K., has grown into the world's most widely adopted computing architecture, now powering billions of devices – from sensors, smartphones and laptops to vehicles, datacenters and beyond.

It was at 3pm on 26th April 1985, the chip that led to the world's first commercial RISC processor powered up... and changed the world!

Steve Furber is a seminal computer scientist, mathematician and hardware designer whose work includes the BBC Microcomputer and the ARM 32-bit RISC microprocessor which can be found in over 100 billion devices today.

Steve studied both Maths followed by a PhD in Aerodynamics at Cambridge University before joining Herman Hauser and Chris Curry at Acorn Computers. For the next decade, he would work with a first-class team of engineers and designers to revolutionise the home computer market before he and Sophie Wilson went on to design the ARM processor with a relatively small team and budget and with little inkling of the consequence it might bring to the world.

In 1990, Steve left Acorn moved to Manchester where he is now Professor of Computer Engineering at the university there. He was charged with leading research into asynchronous systems, low-power electronics and neural engineering which led to the SpiNNaker project - a super computer incorporating a million ARM processors which are optimised for computational neuroscience. He is basically trying to reverse engineer the brain – a lofty ambition even by his own admission.

In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss Steve’s life journey from studying maths with professors such as the famed John Conway and Sir James Lighthill to the highs and lows of building the BBC Micro and the story behind the ARM 32-bit RISC microprocessor.

I thoroughly enjoyed talking to Steve and am overly excited about his SpiNNaker project which we also discuss today.

Enjoy!

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Steve Furber info / SpiNNaker info / Micro Men film

Danielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and Instagram @daniellenewnham / Newsletter