PM's prize goes to Dr John O’Sullivan for wireless technology

For his achievements in astronomy and wireless technologies, the CSIRO’s Dr John O’Sullivan was recognised with the nation's pre-eminent science award - the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science.

In welcoming the awards, CSIRO’s Chief Executive, Dr Megan Clark, said Dr O’Sullivan led a multidisciplinary CSIRO team which developed and patented the technology at the heart of most modern high-speed wireless communications systems.

“Dr O’Sullivan has made many extraordinary contributions to Australian and international science across the fields of radioastronomy and wireless technology,” Dr Clark said. “He was instrumental in the design of the Australia Telescope and pioneered the approach that led a CSIRO team to solving the multipath problem that was crucial to the development of fast wireless networks.

“This technology is now in close to one billion wireless devices around the world.

“Dr O’Sullivan’s leadership and scientific brilliance continue to contribute to the nation through his development of an innovative radio camera for the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope. John's work has significant relevance to the future international project to build the $3bn Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope.