Smith, Norman Malcolm Hamilton (1932 - 2020)

Summary

Norman Smith, BEE PhD, worked as an engineer in telecommunications traffic and operations research within Headquarters Planning Branch of the Postmaster-General's Department, from 1956 until 1966 when he gained a scholarship to study for a PhD at ANU.

During the 1960s, he undertook much of the investigation work for a three-stage first group selector for use in the ARM Crossbar Automatic Trunk Exchanges, that enabled full Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) from the capital cities. He also developed IBM 7090 computer programs for network optimisation investigations.

After he completed his doctorate he returned to the Post Office during 1969, but then investigated freeway capacity problems in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Melbourne then transferred to the Statistics Department, where in 1976 he was a senior lecturer, and Acting Chairman.

His research interests varied and ranged from applied probability theory and the applications of queueing theory to road traffic problems to the practical and theoretical applications of statistics to real data and the information-theoretic underpinnings of statistical inference.

Details

Chronology

1951 -

Career position - Cadet Engineer, Postmaster-General's Department

1953

Education - Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (BEE), University of Melbourne

1953 - c. 1954

Career position - Graduate Training as a Cadet, Postmaster-General's Department

c. 1954 - c. 1956

Career position - Grade I Engineer, Victorian Country Installation and Metropolitan District Works Divisions, Postmaster-General's Department

1956 -

Career position - first Secretary, Central Office Traffic Engineering Committee, Postmaster General's Department [Detailed technical investigation leading to the adoption of the L M Ericsson Crossbar Systems by the Department]

c. 1963

Career position - Sectional Engineer, Traffic Engineering, in the Headquarters Planning Branch of the Postmaster-General's Department

1966 - 1968

Career position - Commonwealth Public Service Scholarship [To undertake PhD at ANU]

1969

Career event - Sectional Engineer, Traffic Engineering, in the Headquarters Planning Branch of the Postmaster-General's Department

1970 -

Career position - Researcher, Civil Engineering Department, University of Melbourne

1970

Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Australian National University

c. 1973 -

Career position - Senior lecturer, Statistics Department, University of Melbourne

1976 -

Career position - Acting Chairman, Statistics Department, University of Melbourne

Published resources

Conference Papers

• Pratt, C. W.; Tyrrell, L. A., 'Development of telephone traffic measurement equipment and its application in the Australian telephone network', in Electronic Instrumentation Conference, Hobart 1972 (Institution of Engineers Australia, 1972), pp. 95-103., https://inis.iaea.org/records/8yafe-7p512/files/3026919.pdf. [ Acknowledged as the original prime mover for establishing telephone traffic measurement.]. Details
• Smith, N. H. M., 'More accurate calculation of overflow traffic from link trunked crossbar group selectors', in Third International Teletraffic Congress in Paris (1961).. Details

Journal Articles

• Banks, E. R., 'Crossbar switching equipment for the Australian telephone network', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 33 (4-5) (1961), 113-125. [Banks particularly acknowledged Smith for his work related to this investigation.]. Details
• Herbert, A. J.; Smith, N. M. H., 'Analysing railway crossing accident data', Australian Road Research, 6 (3) (1976), 24-33, https://discovery.ntroknowledge.com.au/discovery/delivery/61NTRO_INST:ATRI/128168000009464. Details
• Smith, N. M. H., 'More accurate calculation of overflow traffic from crossbar group selectors', Telecommunication Journal of Australia, 13 (6) (1963), 472-475, https://www.coxhill.com/trlhistory/media/Telecommmunication%20Journal%20of%20Australia/The%20Telecommunication%20Journal%20of%20Australia%20Vol%2013.%20No%206%20FEBRUARY%201963.pdf. Details

Resources

• 'Smith, N M H', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-507286. Details

Theses

• Smith, Norman Malcolm Hamilton, 'On the distribution of queueing times for queues with two servers', PhD thesis, Australian National University, 1970, 251 pp, http://hdl.handle.net/1885/133184. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_s.html. Details