World leader in integrated circuits for Boyle lecture

Those who are perpetually on the go might fancy the idea of watching a film on their mobile phones, but how would such an advance be achieved? The winner of the 2003 Boyle Medal for Scientific Excellence has the answers.

Prof John McCanny, professor of microelectronics engineering at Queen's University Belfast captured the medal for his exceptional research into high-speed processing of digital information and images. On April 20th he will deliver the Boyle Medal laureate's lecture, which will describe what his work means for the future of DVD and mobile communications.

The Boyle Medal and the lecture are organised by co sponsors, the Royal Dublin Society and The Irish Times. Awarded every other year, the medal celebrates the high quality of research undertaken both at home and abroad by Irish scientists.

McCanny's work focuses on how to achieve rapid and high-volume digital signal processing. "It is essentially doing mathematics on silicon," he says of his work. The goal is to achieve a 1,000-fold improvement in the efficiency of data handling by using hard-wired silicon structures rather than software programmes.

He is a world leader in the development of "very large-scale integrated circuits" for use in digital signal processing, a field he helped pioneer. His work earned him many awards and fellowships including in the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the US-based IEEE.

His research has lead to advances in the new era of "systems-on-a-chip", building entire integrated systems in silicon to help improve data handling efficiency. His latest research involves novel circuit architectures and chip designs for data encryption and decryption, critical in the secure transmission of information over hard-wired and wireless Internet connections.

McCanny's lecture takes place in the Minerva Suite in the RDS on Tuesday evening, April 20th at 6.30 p.m. The Minerva Suite entrance is to the left of the main RDS entrance on Merrion Road.

Tickets for the lecture are free but must be booked in advance by telephone. To book call 1550-114-709 or 0906-604-0249 (from Northern Ireland), leaving your name and telephone number and the number of seats you require (maximum two seats per person). Calls cost 74 cent per minute and calls from mobile phones may be more expensive.

The phone lines will remain open until the 200 seats available at the lecture are fully booked. Tickets are not available directly from either The Irish Times or the Royal Dublin Society. Please note that tickets will not be issued but the booking confirms your place at the lecture.