b'CommitteesASEG newsASEG History Committee: A history of geophysical data and image processing in AustraliaThe ASEG History Committee has completed a report on the history of geophysical data and image processing in exploration geophysics in Australia. The report has been compiled from contributions made by over 20 computer software developers and users of the software. Their memories have resulted in a total of 34 companies and organisations being individually featured, and they are listed in time zones from the earliest developers in the 1960s to the late 1990s.The report is not intended to be a detailed description of all developments in data processing over recent decades, but to high-light, historically, the major stages in the foundational developments and the principal achievements. It also recognises those persons primarily responsible for various contributions, including some of the pioneers whose legacy lives on in their ground-breakingAn early photo of Doug Morrison, circa 196364, transcribing analogue data to maps at Aero Service Corp. achievements. On the desk at the back is an aerial photographic slotted template cutter for producing base maps.The report focuses on data processingRoger Henderson, Peter Gidley andSome contributions to this project chiefly for hard-rock geophysics, whereSteve Mudge is now available on thewere in the form of small essays. innovation was necessitated in the earlyASEG website in the History sectionWhile often informal, after extraction years by the lack of available products(https://www.aseg.org.au/history/). of the historical information these from elsewhere in the geophysicalcontributions have been preserved, surveying industry. In stark contrastThe history begins in the early 1960s,unedited, in a second volume of was the continually evolving range ofwhen slide rules, mechanical calculatorsAttachments. Both volumes have software then available for processing ofand mathematical tables were beingillustrations of some of the early soft-rock geophysical data. In particular,used. Analogue devices such as graphcomputers and digitizing equipment. because there was a strong emphasis onrectifiers to transcribe analogue recordsIn particular, Doug Morrisons story, as airborne acquisition of data in Australia,to maps followed, and then came thethe first of the attachments is called, the unique types of airborne geophysicalarrival of electronic devices with memoryalso includes an example of early hand surveying conducted, such as low-leveland programmable calculators. Acontouring.flying, required specialised products. particular breakthrough came in the early 1970s with the advent of the digitizer.A companion article that also discusses This project was first suggestedData reduction software was createdthis evolutionary period is Fifty Years of to Roger Henderson, Chair of thenext, along with contouring softwarePotential Field Modelling by Dave Pratt, History Committee, by Steve Mudgeto display the data. The emergence2002, Preview 99, pp 1619.in December 2016 as a project toof numerically powerful desktop commemorate the 50th anniversary ofmachines in the 1970s, and availability of the ASEG in 2020. The report, whichinteractive colour display systems in theRoger Henderson is the culmination of three and a half1980s, determined the timing and effortsASEG History Committee Chair years of compiling and editing byof many developments. rogah@tpg.com.au5 PREVIEW AUGUST 2020'