Ronald Ernest Aitchison

Who was Ronald Ernest Aitchison?

Ronald Ernest Aitchison, was born in Hurstville, NSW, Australia on 29 December 1921. From 1942 to 1945 Ron worked as an engineer with the Amalgamated Wireless Valve Company on the design and production of klystrons and radar magnetrons, which were new devices important to the war effort. He was also involved in work on semiconductor diodes, which were the forerunners of the revolution in electronics brought about by the advent of solid-state semiconductor components. In 1945 he joined the National Acoustic Laboratories where he worked on the design and construction of hearing aids for children.

Aitchison was appointed as Senior Lecturer in Communications Engineering at the University of Sydney, which was the start of his 25-year teaching experience at that institution, culminating in his appointment as Associate Professor. His interest in solid-state physics took him to Bristol University, UK, for a year and he also spent a year at Stanford University, California, on a Fulbright scholarship, working at the forefront of electronics research. In 1970, he accepted an offer from Macquarie University to become the founding Professor of Electronics and took up the post in 1971. During his fifteen years at Macquarie, Aitchison was well known for his dedication to his students and his insistence on keeping up to date with the latest laboratory techniques, experiments and equipment for his students. This was necessary to ensure that the university was keeping in pace with the rapid changes in the electronics industry at the time.