Electronics and Computer Science, generally abbreviated "ECS", at the University of Southampton was founded in 1946 by Professor Erich Zepler.

ECS was the first academic institution in the world to adopt a self-archiving mandate (2001)[4] and since then much of its published research has been freely available on the Web.

It is estimated that the costs for rebuilding the centre and replacing the equipment will be around £50 million, making this what is believed to be the world's most destructive university fire.

The modern design by Jestico + Whiles includes glass curtain walls, decorated by a mathematical fractal pattern, which allows those outside to view the research taking place in the clean rooms.

[12][13] Main: Notable Staff of the School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton The School is home to a number of notable staff including Sir Timothy Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web[14] and Dame Wendy Hall, president of the Association for Computing Machinery, ex-president of the British Computer Society, and Co-Founding Director of the Web Science Research Initiative[15]