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, 85, an Australian scientist who invented the “black box” flight data recorder, died Monday, defense officials said Wednesday.
He thought of the idea for a cockpit voice recorder after investigating the crash of the Comet, the world’s first commercial jet airliner, in 1953, the Department of Defence said.
He designed and constructed a prototype in 1956, but it took several years before officials understood just how valuable the device could be.
Warren was born in 1925 in a remote part of northeast Australia. In 1934, his father was killed in a plane crash.
In 2002, Warren was given the Order of Australia, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors.
