K. D. Tocher

Keith Douglas "Toch"^[3] Tocher (19 March 1921 – 30 December 1981) was a computer scientist known for contributions to computer simulation.^[4]

K. D. Tocher
Born	19 March 1921[1][2]
Died	30 December 1981 (aged 60)[2]
Alma mater	University of London
Scientific career
Fields	computer simulation
Institutions	University of Southampton[2]
Thesis	The design and statistical analysis of experiments  (1952)
Doctoral students	Meir M. Lehman

Tocher received a first-class BSc in mathematics in 1941 from University College London, a BSc in statistics in 1946 from University of London, and a PhD in 1952 at Imperial College London.^[5][2]

In 1958, he worked for United Steel Companies under Anthony Stafford Beer,^[2] and developed the first discrete-event simulation package, the General Simulation Program (GSP), a program that used a common structure to execute a range of simulations.^[4][6]

He was appointed professor of operational research at the University of Southampton in 1980.^[5] He was awarded the silver medal of the Operational Research Society in 1967 and served as president from 1972 to 1973.^[5]

Tocher was also one of the creators of the SRT division algorithm that is used in the hardware of many modern computers.^[7][8]