John Makepeace Bennett (31 July 1921 – 9 December 2010) was an early

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

. He was Australia's first professor of computer science and the founding president of the

Australian Computer Society The Australian Computer Society (ACS) is an association for information and communications technology professionals with 40,000+ members Australia-wide. According to its Constitution, its objectives are "to advance professional excellence in ...

. His pioneering career included work on early computers such as

EDSAC The Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) was an early British computer. Inspired by John von Neumann's seminal ''First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC'', the machine was constructed by Maurice Wilkes and his team at the Universit ...

, Ferranti Mark 1* and

SILLIAC The SILLIAC (''Sydney version of the ILLIAC I, Illinois Automatic Computer'', i.e. the ''Sydney ILLIAC''), an early computer built by the University of Sydney, Australia, was based on the ILLIAC and ORDVAC computers developed at the University o ...

, and spreading the word about the use of computers through computing courses and computing associations.

Personal life

Bennett was born in 1921 at

Warwick, Queensland Warwick ( ) is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in southeast Queensland, Australia, lying south-west of Brisbane. It is the administrative centre of the Southern Downs Region Local government in Australia, local go ...

, the son of Albert John Bennett and Elsie Winifred née Bourne.''Australian computing pioneer pushed technological frontiers''
, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 Dec 2010, retrieved 4 Jan 2011 In 1952 he married Rosalind Mary Elkington (who was also working at

Ferranti Ferranti International PLC or simply Ferranti was a UK-based electrical engineering and equipment firm that operated for over a century, from 1885 until its bankruptcy in 1993. At its peak, Ferranti was a significant player in power grid system ...

). Retrieved 10 November 2006 They had four children: Christopher John, Ann Margaret, Susan Elizabeth and Jane Mary. In 1986 Bennett, aged 65, retired with his wife to Sydney's Northern Beaches. Bennett died at home on 9 December 2010 and was survived by his wife, four children and six grandchildren.

Education and war service

Bennett was educated at

The Southport School The Southport School (TSS) is an independent Anglican early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, located in Southport, a suburb on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia. Established in 1901 by the Revd Horac ...

. After which, he went to the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

to study

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

. From 1942 until 1946 (during

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

), he served in the

RAAF The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the governor-general of Aus ...

. He worked on a radar unit on the

Wessel Islands The Wessel Islands is a group of uninhabited islands in the Northern Territory of Australia. They extend in a more or less straight line from Buckingham Bay and the Napier Peninsula of Arnhem Land, and Elcho Island, to the northeast. Marchinb ...

and later worked in airfield construction. He then returned to the University of Queensland to study

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

and

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

Professional life

In 1947 he went to

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

to become

Maurice Vincent Wilkes Sir Maurice Vincent Wilkes (26 June 1913 – 29 November 2010) was an English computer scientist who designed and helped build the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), one of the earliest stored-program computers, and who in ...

' first research assistant as part of the team working to build

.Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre
'The First computers, 1951 to 1956'
Technology in Australia 1788-1988. Retrieved 7 November 2006. This was the world's first practical stored program electronic computer, and the world's first computer in regular operation from 1949. He used EDSAC to carry out the first ever structural engineering calculations on a computer as part of his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

. He worked for

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

as a computer specialist. Here he designed the

instruction set In computer science, an instruction set architecture (ISA) is an abstract model that generally defines how software controls the CPU in a computer or a family of computers. A device or program that executes instructions described by that ISA, s ...

for Ferranti Mark 1*, which was the main improvement of that machine over

Ferranti Mark 1 The Ferranti Mark 1, also known as the Manchester Electronic Computer in its sales literature, and thus sometimes called the Manchester Ferranti, was produced by British electrical engineering firm Ferranti Ltd. It was the world's first commer ...

. In 1956, Bennett returned to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to become numerical analyst (and later senior numerical analyst) to the Adolph Basser Laboratory at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

.JOHN MAKEPEACE BENNETT: A speech delivered in his honour in the Great Hall of the

by Dr. J. Seberry on 11 November 1986. (read tex
Adobe PostScriptHTML
His main work was the development of software for

. Until 1958 he taught associated courses in the use of computers. In 1958 he established a postgraduate diploma in numerical analysis and computing which was later changed to the postgraduate diploma in computer science. In 1961, the Basser Laboratory became the Basser Computing Department and John Bennet became professor of physics (electronic computing). In 1972 the Basser Computing Department was split into the Basser Department of Computer Science (for teaching and research) and the University Computer Centre. John Bennett was appointed head of the new Basser Department of Computer Science, but it was not until 1982 that John Bennett's title was changed to be Professor of Computer Science - a title which he held until his retirement in 1987. He was also the foundation chairman of the

Australian Committee on Computation and Automatic Control Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

from 1959 to 1963, the president of the New South Wales Computer Society from 1965 to 1966, and the foundation president of the

from 1966 to 1967. In 1981 he helped found the Research Foundation for Information Technology at the university.

Awards

In 1983 he was appointed an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AO) for service to computing science. In 2001 he was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

for service to Australian society in computer science and technology.Centenary Medal
, 1 January 2001, It's an Honour In 2004 Bennett was awarded the Pearcey Medal, an annual award presented to a distinguished Australian for a lifetime and outstanding contribution to the ICT industry.

References

External links