Ted Codd invented the relational model for database management and relational databases while working for IBM in the 1970s. He proposed a set of rules for how data should be stored and accessed in tables to optimize data storage and retrieval. Codd studied mathematics at Oxford University after serving in World War 2 and received his PhD in computer science from IBM in 1965, where he went on to develop the relational model that became the theoretical basis for modern relational database systems.