Murray Allen interviewed by David Demant in the History of ICT in Australia oral history project
- Bib ID:
- 6223151
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Allen, Murray, 1927-, interviewee
- Online Access:
- National Library of Australia digitised item
- Access Conditions:
- Access open for research, personal copies and public use.
- Description:
-
- 2013
- 2 sound files (approximately 99 min.)
- Series:
- History of ICT in Australia oral history project.
- Technical Details:
- Mode of access: Online.
- Summary:
-
Murray Allan talks about his early life; his education and schooling; his siblings and parents; studying Electrical Engineering at Adelaide University; Claude Shannon; working at Amalgamated Wireless Australasia (AWA); the Digital Revolution; analogue vs. digital; discusses his marriage; his family history; joining Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO); the computer CSIR Mk 1 (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research); joining the digital group at CSIRO; his involvement with students; the CIRRUS Project; SNOCOM for the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme; his interest in sports; his retirement from university; being a research officer at Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Mathematical Instrument Section in the School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Sydney; digital technology; his interest in digital differential analysers (DDA); the debate over the computer project CSIRAC (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Automatic Computer) at CSIRO.
Allan discusses his radio physics work on semiconductors; his study leave at Control Data Corporation, USA; accepting the position of Director of Computer Centre and Head of Department of Electronic Computation at the University of New South Wales (UNSW); INTERGRAPHIC; Gordon Rose; his involvement in the design of three hardware platforms; his explanation of a micro programmed transistorised machine; being a Professor of Electronic Computation (later Computing Science) and Director of the Digital Computer Centre at UNSW; Seymour Cray; teaching electrical engineering; his observations on the differences between students courses and universities then and now (2013); life after computing; his concern about the way research is carried out in the present; Pearcey Medal and Pearcey Hall of Fame, 2009.
- Biography/History:
-
"Professor Allen graduated in Electrical Engineering at the University of Adelaide (1949) and completed his PhD at Sydney University a few years later. Murray's name is synonymous with the design of hardware platforms in many of Australia's first digital computers covering ADA, the first fully transistorised machine designed in 1955, SNOCOM and then in 1963 Cirrus, a micro-programmed machine which was one of the world's first multi-user multi-programmed computers" -- Pearcey Foundation.
- Notes:
- Recorded on 23 and 24 March 2013 in Lindfield, N.S.W.
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Timed summary (4 pages)
- Subject:
- Occupation:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Demant, David, interviewer
- Related Records:
-
This belongs to the History of ICT in Australia oral history project.
This collection contains 9 records. - Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2083 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2013
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