David Pearson (computer scientist)

David Pearson

David Pearson is a British physicist and computer scientist. He has first-class degrees in physics and theoretical physics from London University and Imperial College of Science and Technology, and in computer science from the University of Cambridge, where he did his PhD postgraduate research in computational fluid dynamics and the resolution of time-based three-dimensional matrices of second-order partial differential equation sets, on the Ferranti Atlas and English Electric KDF9 in collaboration with the Met Office. This work was designed to model accurate weather forecasts in a shorter time than hitherto on the world’s most powerful computers.

He was the first of his family to attend university. Whilst still at university, he also performed early work for British Steel in the use of very high frequency oscillators in the measurement of surface roughness in a continuous strip steel rolling mill in order to enable high quality continuous enameling. He is an Associate of the Royal College of Science.

He joined International Computers Limited in 1968 and became Head of Software Engineering.In 1977 he joined Bell-Northern Research in Ottawa and Palo Alto California and became Director of Advanced Development.

In 1981 he joined the ranks of the early-80s hitech entrepreneurs and became the co-founder and President of Orcatech, one of the world's first intelligent graphics workstation companies which he took public on the TSX. Later he joined a European venture capital consortium to strengthen some of their young investments. He then went on to become the founding Chief Executive of the Strathclyde Institute in Glasgow, Scotland, Senior Director of Scottish Enterprise and Chief Executive for the economic development agency for Norfolk and Waveney. Before moving back to Canada, he spent three years as Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Industrial Society, later to become the Work Foundation think tank. He has Canadian and British citizenships.

ICL CADES[]

Pearson started his career at International Computers Limited. He was involved in the early development work of the VME/B operating system for ICL’s 2900 Series. He was the innovator and architect of the CADES software engineering system^[1][2] that was the foundation of VME/B development activities for over 20 years, and he led its development team until 1977.

In designing the initial architecture of the CADES environment, Pearson looked to parallels with the leading hardware computer-aided design systems of the time, even attempting the use of graphics in the design process.^[3][4] CADES was one of the first effective software engineering environments to be used for the development of large-scale software.^[5][6][7] After 30 years, the system was still in use by Fujitsu to maintain the ICL operating system.

Bell-Northern Research Laboratories[]

At the end of 1977, Pearson moved to Bell-Northern Research Laboratories in Ottawa, Canada, and became Director of the laboratory's Advanced Development teams in Palo Alto, Raleigh NC and Ottawa. Whilst at BNR his primary focus was on leading research programmes working on heuristic design and development technologies for Northern Telecom digital communications products.^[8][9][10]

His key research programmes included artificial intelligence techniques applied to dense electronic designs, a virtual graphics machine global standard, software engineering techniques for high-performance Digital Multiplex System products, and computer-aided design strategies for locally intelligent products.

During this time he was a science and technology adviser to the Canadian government and served as a member of the Science and Engineering Research Council for Canada.

Orcatech Inc[]

In 1981, with a small number of BNR colleagues, Pearson left to found Orcatech Inc.^[11] one of the first companies specialising in the design and development of raster-based high resolution intelligent graphics workstations for the computer-aided engineering market.^[12] In the early 1980s, the availability of bit-slice and 16-bit microprocessors started to revolutionise personal computing and high resolution computer graphics terminals which now increasingly became intelligent, semi-standalone and standalone workstations. Graphics and application processing were increasingly migrated to the intelligence in the workstation or PC rather than continuing to rely on central mainframe and mini-computers. Pearson and his colleagues recognized the opportunity these microprocessors offered to graphics technology over the old technologies of storage tube and refresh vector graphics arrangements ^[13] Orcatech was at the leading edge of what is now recognized as modern high resolution computer graphics. The Orca 3000 was based on Motorola 68000 and AMD bit-slice processors and had Unix as its operating system. It was targeted squarely at the sophisticated end of the design engineering sector and included General Motors, Nortel, Douglas Cardinal, architect, Boeing and Lockheed as clients ^[14] After developing a portfolio of successful workstation products and a rich portfolio of blue-chip clients, Orcatech went public, 20 months after its formation, on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1983 at a valuation of over $100m, at that time one of the highest valued young technology companies ever to go public on the TSX.^{[15] [16]} Based on this experience he joined a venture capital consortium in Europe to strengthen some of their investments.

The Strathclyde Institute[]

In 1986 Pearson moved back to the UK, after turning down the Deanship of the University of Otago Business School NZ for budgetary reasons, to become the first Chief Executive of the Strathclyde Institute, a research and consultancy company focusing on computer-based design and manufacturing systems and based in Glasgow, Scotland.^[17][18] In establishing the Institute, Pearson's partners were the University of Strathclyde, under its charismatic and supportive Principal, Sir Graham Hills, the Scottish Development Agency, Hewlett Packard, Group Bull and Honeywell. During his six years as Chief Executive, the Institute advised some of the world’s leading companies in the computer-based production of computers, jet engine manufacture, automotive assembly, food and beverage processing, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. He was also the author of one of the definitive guides to Computer Integrated Manufacturing, published by the Financial Times.^[19] Concurrently, Pearson was also Professor in Management at Strathclyde University in Glasgow and a government adviser on company startup policy, seed funding and operations.

Economic development[]

In 1993 Pearson became Senior Director of Scottish Enterprise, the national body responsible for the economic development of Scotland, where he introduced and developed its focus on new business startups.

After three years with Scottish Enterprise, Pearson took over as Chief Executive of the failing Norfolk and Waveney Enterprise Partnership, the economic development agency for East Anglia, which was successfully turned around and transformed.^[20] Pearson also served as a member of the University of East Anglia Senate during this period.

At the beginning of 2000, he was appointed Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Industrial Society, one of the world's oldest and most respected economic think tanks, later to become The Work Foundation, where he advised the private and public sectors on good governance, compliance, growth and employment futures. Whilst in London, at his offices on Carlton House Terrace, he was a resident of the Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall in Mayfair, where he stayed, dined and entertained clients. He retired in February 2003, after restructuring the Work Foundation, selling loss-making activities to Capita and adding 23 million pounds to the balance sheet, with a view to saving the over-extended pension fund. ^[21]

On retiring from the Work Foundation, he moved to Pender Harbour, British Columbia, Canada, where he served the local boating community as Canadian Power and Sail Squadron Training Officer and Squadron Commander for a number of years. He continues to enjoy Premier League soccer, cats, collecting classic cars, early Baroque music, writing, philanthropy and travelling between properties in Zermatt Switzerland, Hawaii and British Columbia.

References[]