2004 SA Award
The 2004 South Australian Pearcey Award was presented to Dr Ross Williams. The award was presented by the Hon. Trish White, who is also a State patron of the Pearcey Foundation.
The award ceremony was held at the Hilton Hotel, Adelaide, on Wednesday 1st December 2004.
Dr Ross Williams
Ross obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University Of Adelaide in 1990, after which he worked for the Australian National Railways as a Safety Critical Software Analyst. Following this, Ross founded Rocksoft, designed and implemented the original Veracity product, and grew the company using the Internet as a marketing and distribution vehicle.
Ross conceived and developed the Blocklets software technology and has been the creative force behind Rocksoft's stream of new software technologies, including the Blocklets File Store, the Blocklets Network Protocol, and the Viarius self-healing enterprise architecture. Ross continues his involvement with Rocksoft in the role as Chairman in which he oversees corporate development, and in the role of Chief Technical Architect in which he creates and develops new software technologies. Ross is a member of the ACM, the IEEE, and the ACS.
Award Background
Dr. Trevor Pearcey led the project team in Australia between 1947 and 1949 that built the fourth operational computer ever constructed, CSIRAC. Dr Pearcey died on January 27th 1998 and the Foundation was established in his memory to honour Australia's significant contribution to the world's IT industry.
He led a project team that from 1947 to 1949 built Australia's first, and the world's fourth, operational computer. Known as CSIRAC, this computer is located in Melbourne and is the oldest surviving electronic computer in the world.
