OBITUARY

Barry Thornton died on 28/12/2021.

Professor Thornton was a pioneer of Australian computing who helped make stealth jets invisible to making breast cancer cells easier to see.

Born in Sydney 1930, Barry spent his childhood in Great Depression food queues with his mother and playing in hand-made billy-carts on the steep Coogee streets.

He obtained his PhD from University of NSW and a Doctor of Science from Sydney University. After a brief time as an actuarian, Professor Thornton became an eminent aeronautical engineer. He worked on one of the first commercial computers in Australia.

His innovations include safer airborne computer controls, military aircraft that can’t be seen by radar, quieter commercial jet engines. He modelled the flutter in helicopter blades and the setting of yacht sails under differing conditions.

In 1974 he was named the inaugural Dean of Mathematical and Computing Sciences at NSW Institute of Technology, which became the University of Technology Sydney in 1988. Professor Thornton’s other roles include the Director of Technical Operations for Honeywell Australia, a research officer at CSIRO, a senior lecturer at the UNSW and a Professor of Physics at the University of Sydney.

A master of creatively applying new knowledge across disciplines, he adapted insights from his radar research to advance infrared mammogram techniques.

Professor Thornton founded the Foundation for Australian Resources, where he oversaw research into water pollution in mining, landmine mapping, solar energy planning, and breast cancer imaging. He was one of the early research professionals to advocate telemedicine and the use of digital technology in healthcare.

His passion for changing lives continued into his later years, when he studied tumours cells and Alzheimer’s disease, which his wife for 48 years, suffered from.

Professor Thornton’s many honours include an Order of Australia in 1997 and his election to the Academy in 1994.

He died on 28 December 2021, two months after his wife Fae. He is survived by his daughter and three granddaughters. 

Professor Thornton was an Australian information technology pioneer. At NSWUT/UNSW (1957-61), as Director, UNIVAC Australia (1961- 63) and as Director Technical, Honeywell Australia (1963-1973), he headed teams providing technical support for industry and government and R&D at Boeing (US) and USAF. He was inaugural NSWIT/UTS Dean, Mathematical and Computing Sciences (1973-77, 1982-87), inaugural Head of Mathematical Sciences from 1975 and (from 1974) Chief Executive (Honorary) of the Foundation for Australian Resources.
His main technical contributions have been in applying computing and mathematical techniques to real world environmental, energy and biotechnology problems. His studies of the economics of Australian computer usage are substantial.