Memories of Murray

Memories of Murray

I don't know much about Murray's background or personal affairs - different vintages and lifestyles. I have a few reminiscences I can share, professional and semi-pro.

My professional interaction is shared by all SUGAR personnel as it involves electronics, and Murray was the driving force, especially for the electronics of the SUGAR experiment. When I began as a post-grad student on SUGAR in 1964, I was given the founding paper by McCusker and Winn. I always suspected that Murray originated the idea of using the central radio transmitter for the timing signals, and that was confirmed by the obit notes published here from his Haverah Park colleagues.

I had told Murray about my electronics hobbyist background, stretching back to even before High School when I used to buy the famous old Australian electronics magazine "Radio and Hobbies" and built electronics gear from locally scrounged radios and military disposals gear. Times past - kids today can start with a Raspberry Pi computer board. Murray loved to talk electronics and I became chief storeman (wow!) for the electronics store with various components, which Murray kept in his offfice for use by SUGAR-ists. That reminds me that Murray's office door was always open to the post-grads.

Murray gave me my first task on SUGAR and it concerned the radio receivers to be used at each station. He sent me out to talk to local Japanese TV receiver manufacturers to see if they could supply us with suitable equipment. Well I didn't speak Japanese and they didn't exactly speak English! What fun. Murray decided that we would build the receivers ourselves, and that task was later passed on to Roger.

Murray then steered me on to building the data handling gear for SUGAR. I have noted in a previous post that Murray gave me the initial sketch idea for the beating heart of the "Tonoscopes", which developed into the unique digital-analogue phase-locked oscillator (some details posted before). Murray was never satisfied and pushed me to keep building and testing the various versions of the SUGAR data-handling gear, until I had to remind him that I was actually a student on a very modest scholarship supplemented by teaching-demonstrating and had to write up a thesis!

I sometimes wished I had kept quiet about my hobbies, but it was the best electronics self-training. I had originally enrolled in Electrical Engineering at SydUni, but electronics studies were poorly served and there was no electronics until 4th year. I was electronically way ahead of my ElecEng mates.

I do recall visiting Murray in hospital after his nasty accident, and he likewise visited me in hospital when I had my appendix removed. Murray invited the beginning SUGAR students to his Riverview home at one time - it must have been in winter as I had just cancelled a weekend skiiing trip to the SydUni Hut at Thredbo to attend. BTW I spent many years cycling around the Riverview area with some killer hills.

After I left the Falkiner Dept nest I saw Murray on a few occasions. I'm sure all of us recall the gathering for Murray's retirement lunch at Brooklyn in 1990. Before that I had occasion to revisit Cosmic Rays a couple of times when Lawrie kindly gave me Falkiner Dept references for job applications, and I was made to feel very welcome. In particular, Murray insistently gave me copies of the latest SUGAR papers to read, so I still felt like I belonged. In fact, I ran into Murray browsing in a city bookshop and the discussion turned to reunions. If my memory serves me correctly that was the origin of the Phillip's Foote gatherings.

RIP Murray Winn.

-- Tony Parkinson