Joseph Ó Ruanaidh

Who is Joseph Ó Ruanaidh?

Dr. Joseph Ó Ruanaidh born in London, England, in 1967, and raised in Ballyfermot, Dublin, is a frequently cited author in the field of digital watermarking.

He attended O'Connell School in Dublin. In 1984, he joined the Irish Air Corps at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel where he was in the 48th Apprentice Class. There he was notable for having unusual technical ability for an apprentice technician. Once he explained to a superior why a rate-of-climb indicator had a logarithmic scale. Also, for amusement, he built a digital clock from various basic components such as transistors, capacitors and LEDs that were lying unused in lockers in the laboratory. This clock was the model for an illustration on the front page of the Defence Forces journal on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Apprentice School. He determined to study for a degree in Electrical Engineering.

He studied on his own, without supervision, to obtain the necessary qualifications to enter Trinity College Dublin in 1986. In 1988 he was awarded a Trinity College Foundation Scholarship where he was also jointly awarded the St Patrick's Benevolent Society of Toronto prize for obtaining the highest overall marks in the scholarship examinations in the university that year.