My aunt Judith Rattenbury, who has died aged 84, was a pioneering computer programmer and data analyst for the social sciences. She was also a cellist, chamber musician and dedicated campaigner, from joining the Aldermaston marches in the 1950s to more recent activism over the climate crisis.
Born in Grantchester, the youngest of three daughters of Monica (nee Miller-Jones) and Robert Rattenbury, the registrary – principal administrative officer – of Cambridge University, Judith went to Cambridgeshire high school.
She became fascinated by computers, spending a gap year working with the X-ray crystallography group at Cambridge. There she carried out data entry by punching cards, using the EDSAC computer in the Cavendish laboratory.
In 1958 she went to Somerville College, Oxford to study engineering, but changed to physics. After graduating in 1961 she started work in London as a programmer of the LEO III computer for the catering firm J Lyons & Co, whose progressive owners saw the opportunity of using computers for business management. Noticing that each mathematical operation in the punchcards could be programmed to a different musical note, Judith enabled the computer to “sing” as it worked.
She designed computer systems for the BBC’s audience research department (1963-67) then moved to the survey research centre at the University of Michigan as head of computing. From there she taught the Osiris data processing package, on which she wrote two books, to institutions all over the world.
Returning home in 1975, Judith worked at Durham University and then as director of data processing at the UN World Fertility Survey (1978-84). After moving to Cambridge, she became an international consultant, including development of Unesco’s IDAMS software. She also co-founded SJ Music, a publisher of unusual chamber music, in 1987 with Sue Otty.
Her commitment to social causes began at university, when she was arrested on an Aldermaston march. On early retirement in the mid-90s Judith volunteered for the Campaign Against Arms Trade for 20 years, before declaring her IT skills obsolete.
Concerned about climate change, she restricted her travels to places accessible by public transport, often to Scotland, especially Mull. She became actively involved with Transition (a movement of community-led groups working for a low-carbon, socially just future), Extinction Rebellion – getting arrested once more – and groups supporting refugees.
At the age of 80 Judith left Cambridge for a retirement community in York, making new friends and championing the cause of a car-free city. She had an extraordinary capacity for making and keeping friends from all periods of her life.
Judith believed a solution commonly overlooked by most was to reduce and live more simply. But she said that after a life of trying, and in her eyes failing, to make the world a better place, she eventually realised that the only thing an individual could do was to be kind – something else she humbly excelled at.
She is survived by her sister Ruth, three nieces and two nephews.
