Sunday 7 July 2019
Churchill Lecture – Churchill the Scientist
John Thompson-Gray delivered July 2019 Churchill Lecture, Churchill the Scientist, read his presentation here…
Audience Comment
John, you did an outstanding job. The research was meticulous, the message clear and incisive, but above all you are a gifted storyteller. I am sure that everybody, like me, went away feeling that they had learnt many new things, and in a way which was likely to stick in the memory. Winston himself would have been impressed.
About John Thompson-Gray,
Academic
University of Queensland
BSc with majors in Pure and Applied Mathematics, double sub-majors in each of Physics and Statistics and compulsory studies in organic, inorganic, analytical and physical chemistry.
Monash University
DipEd in teaching and BEd with majors in administration and philosophy.
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Majors in physical metallurgy and materials, Masters Degree in Engineering.
University of Cambridge
Individual subjects by examination: The Short Story as an Art Form, Life and Travel Writing, Macroeconomics, Public Policy.
Oxford University
Summer School: Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.
Career
1961-65 Department of the Interior, hydrometeorology
1966-66 Senior Physics Master, St Paul’s Brisbane
1967-69 Mathematics & Physics Master Scotch College, Melbourne
1970-76 Academic, Swinburne College of Technology
1977-80 Swinburne Applied Research and Development Division, industrial consultant and inventor
1981-05 BHP Ltd Superintendent of technological computing, operational research, steel plant management, global technology exchange
1907- Author
Professional Societies in their time, examples
Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration
Australian Statistics Association, Australian Computer Society, Artificial Intelligence Group, Queensland Writers.
Some publications
Thickness control in galvanized coatings
The Westec Project: Computerised Intelligence
Markovian model for demographic analysis
Japanese Blitz on Darwin
Love, Luck and Larceny
How Great Thine Aunt
De kat met de elf levens
Miscellaneous
Queensland Surf Lifesaving bronze medallion
Unattached officers’ list, Southern Command during Vietnam War
Numerous industrial training courses e.g. Dupont, Kepner-Tregoe
Teaching liaison with USA consulate during the space race to the moon
Candidate for federal parliament 1975