David M. Delaney Articles

Inventor, researcher, social commentator, and relentless pursuer of knowledge. Passed away in Ottawa, February 19, 2012, at the age of 69, after a heroic struggle with cancer. David was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was educated as an electrical engineer at the University of Manitoba and spent the rest of his career in research related to software design and communications, with The Bedford Institute of Oceanography, in Nova Scotia, Ministry of Transport in Ottawa, Control Data Corporation in Toronto, Logica in London, England, and Bell Northern Research and Nortel Labs in Ottawa. David was one of the founding shareholders of Plaintree Systems of Ottawa. Although his formal career revolved around computer software and hardware inventions, David would be most accurately described as a polymath. David's huge span of personal interests and research in all manner of mathematics, physics, engineering, medicine, society, history, knots, sailing, fishing, hunting, music and nature lead him to invent an eclectic array of devices, some with broad social applications - things such as open architecture solar cookers for the less developed world to passive solar homes for temperate climates. Since his retirement in 1999, David's principal concern was the environment, particularly in the areas of population growth and peak oil. His research, correspondence and writings with people and organizations sharing similar concerns spanned the globe. It's a testament to David's insight that many of the articles he has written are more relevant today than ever.

​