PM's Science Prize goes to CSIRO WiFi researcher

James Riley
Wednesday, 28 October 2009 14:19

IT People - Training

The CSIRO researcher behind the development of WiFi networking technology used in computers and other devices globally, Dr John O'Sullivan, has been awarded the 2009 Prime Minister's Prize for Science.

The award, and $300,000 grant, recognises O'Sullivan's work both in the making wireless computing practical, as well as his contributions to astronomy.

The Prime Minister's office called his 1992 discoveries that led to fast, reliable wireless networking was among the most significant in the CSIRO's 83 year history.

O'Sullivan had been looking at exploding black holes as part of a research project when he created a technology that cleaned up radio waves he was studying from deep space when he and his colleagues realised the technology would be useful in networking.

The prize was awarded at a Parliament House function in Canberra this evening. O'Sullivan is now engaged in work designing the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope, which is a step towards the giant SKA which its proponents say will be able to look back 13 billion years, almost to the Big Bang.

The $50,000 Prime Minister's Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools has been awarded to Western Australian teacher Allan Whittome, while the Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools was awarded to Len Altman, a science and geoscience teacher at Marden Senior College in Adelaide.