Marian Petre
British computer scientist
Marian Petre (born 1959) is a British computer scientist and Professor of Computing at the Open University and Director of its Centre for Research in Computing (CRC), known for her work on Visual Programming Environments, and co-developed the concept of cognitive dimensions of notations.
Education
Petre obtained her Ph.D. in computer science from the University College London in 1989.
Career and research
In 1990, she started her academic career at the Institute for Perception Research (IPO), in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, which was directed by Theo Bemelmans. Back in Britain she joined the Open University and started cooperation with Thomas R.G. Green, with whom she developed the concept of cognitive dimensions of notations. At the Open University she was eventually promoted to Professor of Computing. Petre was awarded a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award in "recognition of her empirical research into software design."
Awards and honors
She is a recipient of the Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship and an ACM Distinguished Member.
Selected publications
Her selected publications include:
Fincher, Sally, and Marian Petre, eds. Computer science education research. CRC Press, 2004.
Petre, Marian, and Gordon Rugg.
The public source identifies “Marian Petre” as british computer scientist. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Marian, Petre and British.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Marian Petre”, the useful work is to connect “british computer scientist” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q20054081. VIAF identifies the subject as 18450241. The Library of Congress control number is n00005450. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1959, 1989, 1990 and 2004.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Marian Petre”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Marian Petre primary sources, Marian Petre archive and Marian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Marian Petre”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Marian Petre” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.