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James Goodfellow Facts & Worksheets

James Goodfellow is a Scottish engineer who patented the PIN technology behind the first cash machine, also known as ATM or the Automated Teller Machine. PIN stands for Personal Identification Number.

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See the fact file below for more information on James Goodfellow or alternatively, you can download our 22 page James Goodfellow worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts

Early Life

  • James Goodfellow was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, in 1937. He received his education in the same town and in Glasgow.
  • At the age of 16, James became an apprentice for Renfrew Electrical & Radio Engineers. At 24 he worked at the Smiths Industrial Division of Kelvin Hughes, a firm in Glasgow, as a development engineer.

Engineering Work

  • In 1965, while working at Smiths Industries, Goodfellow was given a project to develop an automatic cash dispenser. The need for such a machine came up when banks wanted to serve customers outside of banking hours.
  • He designed a system that allowed customers to use machine-readable encrypted cards and to manually enter pin codes to access the card.
  • His cash machine patent was applied for on May 2, 1966.
  • James received a £10 bonus for the invention.In 1967, he became a test engineer for IBM Greenock. In the next four years, he worked on various engineering projects in San Jose, California; Uithoorn, Netherlands; and Endicott, New York.
  • He also worked on the design of Card Debug Evaluation Tester or CADET in 1974.
  • At age 41, he was appointed Card Test Manager, then as Engineering Laboratory Manager at 45.
  • In 1988, he was in charge of the design of electromagnetic compatibility testing.

The ATM

  • The cash-issuing machine that James Goodfellow designed is what we know now as the ATM or Automatic Teller Machine.
  • The machine works by dispensing cash from an account that is accessed through an encrypted card and its associated code.
  • Goodfellow’s machines, which were physically developed and branded by Chubb Lock & Safe Co., were installed at Westminster Bank branches.
  • The ATM card was originally designed as a plastic card with holes in it.
  • The four-digit code used to access the card is called PIN or Personal Identification Number. A PIN is entered manually on the machine’s numerical keypad.

Controversies with John Shepherd-Barron

  • While Goodfellow was still developing the technology behind the concept of cash machines, John Shepherd-Barron, a British inventor, was developing something remotely similar.
  • Instead of cards, Shepherd-Barron’s machines used cheques with carbon-14. A pin was also used to match these cheques.
  • Shepherd-Barron’s machines were installed a month before Goodfellow’s, thus causing controversy on who really invented the ATM.
  • However, Shepherd-Barron’s technology was never patented by his manufacturer, De La Rue.
  • In a BBC documentary, he revealed that the reason he didn’t patent his invention was because he didn’t want criminals to gain access and knowledge into how the system worked.
  • But still, it is generally accepted that Goodfellow did invent and patent the prototype of the PIN technology and the ATMs we use today.

Awards and Achievements

  • James was twice awarded the IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Award. First when he was 37 years old, and again when he was 51.
  • He was awarded an OBE in the 2006 Queen’s Birthday Honours list for his invention of the PIN, which has become extremely valuable in banking. OBE stands for Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
  • He won the John Logie Baird award for Outstanding Achievement in Innovation and placed third in the British Visionary Inventor award run by the Intellectual Property Office.
  • In 2013, he became the first to be inducted into Paymts.com Hall of Fame at Harvard University.
  • He received an honorary doctorate from the University of West of Scotland in 2014.
  • On October 7, 2016, he was inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame.

James Goodfellow Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about inventor James Goodfellow across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use James Goodfellow worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about James Goodfellow is a Scottish engineer who patented the PIN technology behind the first cash machine, also known as ATM or the Automated Teller Machine. PIN stands for Personal Identification Number.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • James Goodfellow Facts
  • An Engineer’s Resume
  • An ATM Manual
  • ATM Pros and Cons
  • The Goodfellow Portfolio
  • Blank Hall of Fame
  • Goodfellow Comics Vol. 1
  • Invented by Scots
  • Today’s Headline
  • History Cards
  • Late Night with James Goodfellow

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Link will appear as James Goodfellow Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, April 6, 2018

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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