computer-configurable knob, both of which found their way onto the consoles of the finished control room. The CERN touchscreen was arguably the first practical device of its kind and used a matrix of transparent capacitative pads above a cathode-ray tube. Beck began post-graduate studies at the Université Louis-Pasteur in Strasbourg, France. His doctoral thesis, presented in 1976, was an expanded version of the 1973 CERN paper, this time also describing the control philosophy, which allowed skilled operators to design their own interface methods, and the various devices (including the knob and the touchscreen, the video wall, and a switchable pool of display devices). In 1983 he moved back to Illinois for two years, this time to work at the Fermilab in Batavia before returning once more to CERN. Later life and retirement He retired in the early 1990s and he and Louise returned to London. Frank had two sons and four grandchildren. He died of natural causes on 3 February 2020, aged 89. External links Discovery Channel – "How We Invented the World": Frank Beck and Bent Stumpe describe the touch-screen as developed at CERN, and how their device has become part of everyday life. (Accessed 2/7/20) Dr Beck's autobiography, "Grandpa's Book" References 1930 births 2020 deaths British computer scientists People associated with CERN British people of Austrian-Jewish descent