▁the ▁Centre ▁for ▁Int ellig ent ▁Systems ▁and ▁their ▁App lications ▁( C IS A ) ▁soon ▁after ▁the ▁group ▁had ▁moved ▁into ▁the ▁In format ics ▁Forum . ▁In ▁September ▁ 2 0 1 0 , ▁the ▁group ▁merged ▁with ▁the ▁research ▁group ▁of ▁Prof ▁Dave ▁Robert son , ▁then ▁the ▁Head ▁of ▁School ▁of ▁University ▁of ▁Edinburgh ▁School ▁of ▁In format ics . ▁ ▁Database ▁research ▁ ▁At kin son ▁has ▁purs ued ▁a ▁career ▁working ▁as ▁a ▁research er ▁in ▁database ▁systems ▁in ▁both ▁academ ia ▁and ▁industry . ▁Among ▁At kin son ' s ▁best ▁known ▁achiev ements ▁are ▁his ▁influ ential ▁work ▁on ▁Object - Ori ented ▁Database ▁Systems , ▁as ▁presented ▁in ▁the ▁Object - Ori ented ▁Database ▁System ▁Man if esto ▁( with ▁François ▁B anc il hon , ▁David ▁De W itt , ▁Klaus ▁Dit tr ich , ▁David ▁Ma ier , ▁and ▁Stanley ▁Z don ik ), ▁and ▁his ▁work ▁design ing ▁O G SA - DA I , ▁a ▁web - service ▁platform ▁for ▁distributed ▁data ▁access , ▁integration ▁and ▁management ▁used ▁intern ation ally ▁in ▁scientific ▁applications . ▁In ▁the ▁early ▁stages ▁of ▁his ▁career , ▁he ▁worked ▁closely ▁with ▁Carol ▁L inden ▁and ▁Neil ▁Wis eman ▁on ▁the ▁Inter mediate ▁Data ▁Language . ▁He ▁identified ▁the ▁value ▁of ▁orthogonal ▁pers istence ▁at ▁V L DB ▁in ▁ 1 9 7 8 ▁and ▁led ▁the ▁team ▁that ▁built ▁the ▁first ▁orth og on ally ▁persistent ▁programming ▁language , ▁PS - alg ol