Trevor Pearcey was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

-born Australian scientist, who created CSIRAC

CSIRAC

CSIRAC , originally known as CSIR Mk 1, was Australia's first digital computer, and the fourth stored program computer in the world. It was first to play digital music and is one of only a few surviving first-generation computers .The CSIRAC was constructed by a team led by Trevor Pearcey and...

, one of the first ever stored-program

Stored-program computer

A stored-program computer is one which stores program instructions in electronic memory. Often the definition is extended with the requirement that the treatment of programs and data in memory be interchangeable or uniform....

 electronic computers in the world.

Born in Woolwich

Woolwich

Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...

, London, he graduated from Imperial College in 1940 with first class honours in physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

 and mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

. He emigrated to Australia in 1945.

In a 1948 paper, he envisaged using a digital electronic computer for providing information over a national telecommunications network:

"In the non-mathematical field there is a wide scope for the use of the techniques in such things as filing systems. It is not inconceivable that an automatic encyclopaedic service operated through the national teleprinter, or telephone system, will one day exist."

He bet that he could make an electronic device that would be 1000 times faster than the best electronic device of the time. Just one of his calculators filled a small room, weighing 7 tons.

He was awarded a D.Sc. by the University of Melbourne

University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...

 in 1971.

In his later years he lived on the Mornington Peninsula

Mornington Peninsula

The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south-east of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geographically, the peninsula begins its protrusion...

 near Melbourne.

The Pearcey Foundation

Pearcey Foundation

The Pearcey Foundation is an Australian organisation dedicated to raising the profile of the Australian Information Technology and Telecommunications industry...

 and the Pearcey Award

Pearcey Award

The Pearcey Awards are a set of prizes presented annually since 1998 by the Pearcey Foundation for achievement in the Australian ICT industry.-Pearcey Award Categories:Each year, the Pearcey Foundation presents 3 categories of award:...

 for outstanding achievement by an Australian in the ICT industry are named after Trevor Pearcey.