Dr Brian Ford OBE is a British Mathematician who founded, and until his retirement in 2004, was director of the Numerical Algorithms Group. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British Order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " The Numerical Algorithms Group ( NAG) is a non-profit Software company, whose head office is in Oxford, UK. Ford gained a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Nottingham University. The University of Nottingham is a Public, Co-educational institution of Higher learning in the city of Nottingham, England. The NAG (then Nottingham Algorithms Group) project began in 1970 as a collaborative venture, led by Ford, between the Universities of Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham and Oxford, and the Atlas Computer Laboratory. The Atlas Computer Laboratory at Harwell Laboratory was the site of one of two examples of the Manchester Atlas computer. In 1973 the project moved to Oxford and was renamed. Ford was awarded an OBE in 1989 in "recognition of outstanding services to British industry and research"