Professor Rudolf deBuda, Ph.D., P.Eng., IEEE Fellow, member of the
Toronto Section, died on September 1, 1988, a little more than a month
before he was to have received the 1988 IEEE Canada McNaughton Gold Medal
for "major contributions to the theory of high resolution radar and advance
signal processing techniques for digital data transmission".
However, his son Peter and wife Yvonne accepted the award on
his behalf at the Fourth Annual Programmable Control Conference on
October 12, 1988
Dr. deBuda graduated from the University of Vienna in 1949 and came to
Canada in 1951. He spent the next 30 years working at General Electric
Canada, latterly as a Senior Engineer - Mathematical Analysis, in the
Communications Systems and Services Dept. His works included analog
control computer design for nuclear reactors, studies on MIT radars, and
the invention and development of the Fast FSK modulation/demodulation
system and its self-synchronization.
Also, in 1970, Dr. deBuda joined McMaster University as a part-time
Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department. As a member of the
Communications Research Laboratory there, he did fundamental research on
theory and application of signal processing, lattice codes, and sampling
theorem. He holds 14 patents, and is the author or co-author of 43
publications, three of which were produced in collaboration with his
son, Peter. In his spare time, when not pursuing the efficiency of
digital modulation techniques, Rudi studied the lattices of chessboards
and history.
Dr. deBuda became a member of IEEE in 1970, a Senior Member in 1971, and
a Fellow in 1986. He has been involved with the organization of the CEC
and IEECE Conferences in Toronto since the early 60's and was Chairman
of the International Electrical and Electronics Conference and
Exposition in 1973. He became Chairman of the Board of IEEC Inc. in 1975
and has served as Director since that time - most particularly in
channeling reserve funds into IEEE student activities, in the form of
McNaughton Learning Resource Centres and Scholarships.
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