McDonald, Arthur Stephen - Bright Sparcs Biographical entry

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McDonald, Arthur Stephen (1891 - 1955)

Radio engineer

Born: 6 March 1891 Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia. Died: 23 April 1955 Longueville, Victoria, Australia.

Arthur Stephen McDonald had no formal training in engineering, but went on to become Chief Engineer at AWA Ltd. (Amalgamated Wireless Australasia) – the company that took over most of the Commonwealth’s radio activities in 1922. During his long tenure at AWA Ltd., McDonald helped establish Australia’s broadcasting industry: he set up the construction of the first radio stations and helped establish the beam wireless service between Australia and Britain (1927) and the first commercial use of two-way radio telephone links to overseas. McDonald was a foundation member of the Institution of Radio Engineers, Australia, a Fellow and one-time Vice-President of the Institute of Radio Engineers, United States of America and Vice-President of the Radio & Telephone manufacturers Association.

Career Highlights

Chronology
c. 1907 - c. 1910 General mechanical engineering positions in Victoria
1910 Junior Instrument Setter in the engineering branch of the Postmaster-General's Department, Victoria
1911 - c. 1916 Erection Engineer for the Costal Radio Service
1916 - 1917 Assistant Engineer for Equipment with the Department of the Navy
1918 - 1920 Radio Engineer with the Department of the Navy
1920 - 1922 Retruned to the Postmaster-General's Department
1922 - Fellow of the Institute of Radio Engineers, USA
1922 - 1930 Radio Engineer with AWA Ltd. (Amalgamated Wireless Australasia)
1930 - 1945 Chief Engineer and Assistant General Manager at AWA Ltd.
1932 - Foundation member of the Institution of Radio Engineers, Australia
1943 - 1945 President of the Institution of Radio Engineers, Australia
1945 - 1946 Assistant Manager of Engineering at AWA Ltd.
1946 - Chief Engineer at the Overseas Telecommunications Commission
1949 Vice-President of the Institute of Radio Engineers, USA

Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.

Prepared by: McCarthy, G.J.
Created: 20 October 1993
Modified: 26 July 2005

Published by The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre on ASAPWeb, 1994 - 2007
Originally published 1994-1999 by Australian Science Archives Project, 1999-2006 by the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre
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Prepared by: Acknowledgements
Updated: 26 February 2007
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P001299b.htm

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