Ray Jarvis
JARVIS Raymond (Ray) Austin, BE(Hons) PHD FIEE IEEE Life Fellow (1941-2013)
Ray was born in Rangoon, Burma, on January 9, 1941, the son of civil servant, Edward John Jarvis and his wife Hyacinth Rose Jarvis. He came to Australia, landing at Fremantle from the “MV Charon” on March 30, 1947, with his parents and brother, Michael. The family moved around with postings to the Rural Bank including Dalwallinu before returning to Perth in February 1950.
Ray enrolled at the University of Western Australia to study engineering in 1957. On one summer vacation, in 1960, he worked at the Wittenoom asbestos mine. Ray completed a Bachelor of Engineering with honours in 1962 and PhD (in Electrical Engineering) in 1968. During his PhD studies he built one of the earliest analog/digital interfaces for the University’s PDP-6 computer, one of the first time-sharable computers ever developed. The greatest challenge was a 200 metre distance between the Physics Building housing the computer and his Electrical Engineering laboratory where he linked the digital computer to an analog computer, overcoming electrical noise and significant earth voltage differences.
After his PhD, Ray worked for two years as a visiting professor at Purdue University, Indiana in the USA. Returning to Australia, he took up a Senior Lectureship at the Australian National University in Canberra where he was instrumental in establishing the Department of Computer Science.
In 1985 he took up a Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering at Monash University and established the Intelligent Robotics Research Centre in 1987 and continued to be its Director. He was Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering in 1987 and 1988.
He was elected as a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers in 1991. For a period Ray was Deputy Chairman of the Research Grants Committee of the Australian Research Council, and subsequently he was Director of the Australian Research Council Centre for Perceptive and Intelligent Machines in Complex Environments. Ray's research interests included Artificial Intelligence (AI), Computer Vision, Pattern Recognition and Intelligent Robotics.
He published over 300 research papers and was the primary supervisor for more than twenty PhD candidates. Unlike many robotics and AI researchers, Ray always preferred to build real laboratory systems to test his theoretical predictions, and encouraged his students to follow his example, often at the cost of lengthening their PhD studies.
Between 2003 and 2007 he was the Director of the Australian Research Council Centre for Perceptive and Intelligent Machines in Complex Environments. Ray was also Director of the Computer Vision and Robotics Lab in the Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering at Monash University.
From the mid 1980s onwards, Ray was regarded as one of the leading robotics and AI researchers in Australia and inspired generations of students who worked with him.
In 1964, Ray married former UWA student Irene Eischinski and they had four children Jackie, Michael, Julia and Gillian.
Ray joined the Institution of Engineers as a Student Member in 1962. Ray became an IEEE Life Fellow in 2012 and was also honoured as an Emeritus Professor at Monash University.
Ray died on 3 October 2013, at the age of 72, from mesothelioma.
References:
University of Western Australia 1963 50th Reunion Booklet.
Raymond Austin JARVIS (1941 - 2013) - Records Archives (monash.edu), accessed October 26, 2022.
Oral-History: Ray Jarvis - Engineering and Technology History Wiki (ethw.org), accessed October 26, 2022.
