David Warren

1985 ABC news report interviewing Warren about his invention.

David Ronald de Mey Warren (20 March 192519 July 2010) was an Australian scientist, best known for inventing and developing the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder (also known as FDR, CVR and "the black box").

Early life David was born to Reverend Hubert and Ellie Warren and was one of four children. He was born on a remote mission station on Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory, becoming the first white child born on the island. He was educated at Launceston Church Grammar School in Tasmania and Trinity Grammar School in New South Wales.

In 1934, his father was killed in the crash of the de Havilland D.H.86 Miss Hobart over Bass Strait.

David went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours from the University of Sydney, a PhD in fuels and energy from Imperial College London, a Diploma of Imperial College, and a Diploma of Education from the University of Melbourne.

Career

Summary It was there, while investigating the 1953 crash of the world’s first commercial jet airliner — the Comet — that David conceived the idea of the cockpit voice recorder. The catalyst a miniature voice recorder he saw at a trade show.

As he later reflected, “If a businessman had been using one of these in the plane and we could find it in the wreckage and play it back, we'd say, ‘We know what caused this.’”

Committees, honours, awards and recognition Warren was the chair of the Combustion Institute (Aust & NZ Section) for 25 years (1958–83), the founding chair of the Morris Minor Car Club of Victoria (1977-2002), as well as committee member of the Chemical Society, the Institute of Fuel, and the Australian Institute of Energy.

Warren received many awards and honours, including The Australian Institute of Energy Medal (1999), the Hartnett Medal of the Royal Society of the Arts (2000), the Centenary Medal (2001), the Lawrence Hargrave Award of the Royal Aeronautical Society (2001), and the ICAO Edward Warner Award (2016).

Recognition In November 2008, Qantas named one of their Airbus A380s after Warren in honour of his services to aviation.

Warren died on 19 July 2010, aged 85, in Melbourne. He was buried in a casket bearing the label "Flight Recorder Inventor; Do Not Open" (a play off of the "FLIGHT RECORDER DO NOT OPEN" label on his recorders).

In June 2012, the ACT Government named a road, David Warren Road, in the suburb of Hume.

David Warren was inducted into the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame on 16 November 2013.

On 25 March 2014, the Defence Science and Technology Organisation renamed their Canberra headquarters the "David Warren Building".

On 20 March 2021, Google showed a Doodle on its home page in some countries for David Warren's 96th birthday.

Notes and references