Samuel Fedida

Samuel Fedida, OBE (4 May 1918 – 10 August 2007) was an Egyptian-born British telecommunication engineer responsible at Post Office Telecommunications for the development of Viewdata.^[1]

Viewdata Graphics used in the experimental phone directory of Post Office Telecommunications in 1977.
The image is a graphical representation of the Post Office/British Telecom Research laboratories (Adastral Park) in Suffolk, England.

Fedida was born in Alexandria, Egypt.^[2] He had the idea for Viewdata in 1968 after reading a publication with the title The Computer as Communications Device.^[3] The first prototype became operational in 1974. In 1977 the system was introduced in the United Kingdom. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1980 Birthday Honours.^[4]

The book Viewdata Revolution authored by Fedida and Rex Malik, ISBN 0852272146, was published in 1979.

He died in 2007 in Hemel Hempstead.^[5]