Mike Lynch was called Britain’s Bill Gates… but his genius lay on a much higher mathematical level, says MAGGIE PAGANO

It is tragic to hear that Mike Lynch, one of Britain’s most brilliant tech entrepreneurs, and his 18-year-old daughter are still missing after his luxury superyacht was hit by a massive storm off the coast of Sicily yesterday morning.

So far, one person has been confirmed dead and four others are missing after the Bayesian capsized after being hit by a tornado near Palermo. His wife has been rescued.

Although Lynch is often seen as Britain’s answer to West Coast smarts like Bill Gates, in reality his genius was quite different and of a higher mathematical level.

And the name of his 184ft £30m superyacht betrays his prodigious skills.

At the heart of the many highly successful and groundbreaking companies Lynch has founded or invested in – from Autonomy to cybersecurity firm Darktrace and software group Featurespace – is Bayesian statistics.

This is the area of ​​statistics based on the work of the 18th century mathematician Thomas Bayes, in which probability expresses the degree of belief in an event.

For example, this could be based on previous knowledge about an event, such as the results of previous experiments or personal beliefs.

That may sound complicated, but it’s how banks use machine learning algorithms to detect fraud on your bank account or how security services track down terrorists.

It was during his PhD research at Cambridge on neural networks (machine learning to us) that the Essex-scholarly boy became fascinated by probability and adaptive behavioural patterns.

It was also the moment when he began to combine his mathematical skills with business, creating audio products for music synthesizers and computer-based fingerprint recognition.

Then came Autonomy, one of the pioneers in analyzing business data using machine learning. He made billions from it when he sold the company to Silicon Valley computer giant Hewlett Packard for $11 billion 13 years ago.

The fabulous wealth that Lynch acquired temporarily cemented his reputation as one of the UK’s most successful tech magnates, placing him on a global stage alongside peers such as Gates and Apple’s Steve Jobs.

It was also a highlight for Cambridge’s tech scene, cementing its reputation as one of the most innovative science clusters in the world.

Yet this turned out to be Lynch’s arch-enemy, leading to one of the bloodiest trials in the Atlantic.

HP sued Lynch for alleged fraud. According to HP, Autonomy had overstated its turnover by more than 5 billion dollars and was demanding billions of dollars in damages.

Lynch maintained his innocence, claiming that HP “regretted the purchase” and had not done enough research.

After a ten-year legal battle, he was extradited from his home in East Anglia in the early hours of one morning by the American authorities. He was handcuffed and shackled and flown back to San Francisco, where he was held under house arrest for thirteen months during the trial.

But less than three months ago, the entrepreneur was acquitted of 15 cases of fraud.

In a recent interview with BBC Radio 4, Lynch, 59, described how happy he was at his release.

‘Until you hear the words you can’t name it and from that moment on it’s indescribable how you jump between two universes.

“If this had gone wrong, it would have been the end of life as I have known it in any sense.”

When asked in another interview if the experience was similar to a near-death experience, Lynch said, “That’s exactly how I dealt with it. It’s bizarre, but now you have a second life. The question is, what do you want to do with it?”

Lynch’s horrific experience also shows the high costs of the American legal system and how nearly impossible it is to pursue legal action without a small fortune.

As Lynch himself admitted, he would not have stood a chance against the US judiciary if he had not had the money to spend on his defence (over £30 million).

His case showed once again how ruthless the US authorities are when it comes to the extradition of British citizens.

But it seems impossible for our authorities to extradite American citizens, as the death of Harry Dunn showed. He was killed in 2019 by a car driven by a former American spy.

It would be a commendation for Lynch if the UK were to tighten these treaties.

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