Noel Desmond Gray

Noel Desmond Gray (26 December 1920 – November 1999) was an Australian technician who, in 1963, co-founded the medical electronics company Telectronics Pty Ltd.^[1]

Early life

Gray was born to Hilda Alice Gray and Joseph Albert Gray on Boxing Day 1920 in Crookwell, New South Wales, Australia. He was the great grandson of George H. Hedger who may have been the inspiration for the Banjo Paterson poem "The Man from Snowy River".^[2] Gray grew up for a time on his grandfather's farm "Middle View" named for its view of the Snowy River near Dalgety.

He attended Sydney Technical School and after passing the Intermediate Certificate he was employed as a wirer for radio manufacturers AWA Australia and then Kreisler Australasia.

World War II

Gray enlisted in the army in August 1942.^[3] During World War II he was trained at the Army School of Radio Physics, whereupon he became a radar technician and Senior Radar Artificer. He also attended No. 6 OCTU.

Gray returned to LHQ where he was placed in charge of the Drawing Office and maintenance section. He helped to install the radar defenses on Rottnest Island for Western Australia and was the Senior Radar Artificer at Exmouth Gulf.^[4] He worked on the first US-designed radar unit in Australia, which was subsequently used to direct bombers during the Battle of the Coral Sea.^[1]

Gray was discharged from the army on 10 May 1946 with the rank of Staff Sergeant posted to 2 SPECIAL RADAR DET RAA.^[3]

Post war

In 1948 Gray was accepted to study medicine at the University of Sydney but withdrew from his studies in 1950 to get married. He work for the Department of Civil Aviation on RADAR installation at Sydney Airport, and on engineering projects for the Metropolitan Water, Sewerage & Drainage Board.

In 1952 he returned to work for the Philips' subsidiary Kreisler to work on a secret project for LRWE, then as senior design engineer. He designed and developed printed circuit board production methods that he incorporated into his designed Kriesler Duplex radios, but were not adopted until a later date. A number of patents were taken out on his work and he was sent on a World study tour by Phillips where he introduced his printed circuits to their founder.^[1]

Gray resigned from Kreisler in 1959 to start a medical electronics business, an ambition he had developed while studying medicine from 1948 - 50.^[1] To finance this venture he started a specialist TV repair business^[5] and was a founder of ESA (later called TESA).^[1]

Telectronics Pty Limited was incorporated in Sydney, Australia, in 1963[1][2][3] by Noel Gray the corporate name was derived from "Television and Electronic Services", operated by Noel Gray as a sole trader from 1959-1964.[3] The company made significant contributions to pacemaker technology including the first definition of the relationship between surface area of the heart electrodes & pacing pulse characteristics, the first use of integrated circuits and the first hermetic titanium encapsulation.^[1][6]

Nucleus Holdings Pty Limited, a company incorporated in 1967, became a 50% shareholder of Telectronics in January 1968. In 1975 Nucleus Holdings Pty Limited transferred its shares in Telectronics to Nucleus Corporation Pty Limited and reduced the holding by sale of shares to a French multinational leaving a 33.33% holding by Nucleus Corporation Pty Ltd which became the publicly listed company Nucleus Limited 1980.^[7] In turn Nucleus Limited was acquired by Pacific Dunlop in 1988. Legal action over the sale of faulty "J Lead" electrodes, inherited by Telectronics in acquisition of pacemaker manufacturer Cordis corporation of Miami led to the company having to settle extensive worldwide compensation claims. This led to the sale of Telectronics assets to, eventually, St. Jude Medical of Minneapolis and Pacific Dunlop restructuring itself into Ansell.

Death

Noel Desmond Gray died in November 1999. He was survived by his wife Beth, daughter Robyn, and son Christopher.

References