Historical Records of Australian Science最新文献

David Headley Green AM, FAA, FRS was an outstanding Australian geologist and world leader in experimental petrology and geochemistry. His research, initially at the Australian National University with A. E. Ringwood, and later at the University of Tasmania, shaped our understanding of the composition of the Earth’s mantle and the origin of the wide spectrum of volcanic rocks erupted in different global tectonic settings. David also had a significant impact on Antarctic science through studies of high-grade metamorphic rocks, but more broadly in fostering marine and climate science by championing the establishment at the University of Tasmania of a multidisciplinary research centre (now the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies). His achievements and scientific leadership were recognised with many international and national awards, including membership of the Order of Australia. A considerate and compassionate man, David is also remembered for his interest in and care for others.

For four decades from the mid 1970s, Dr Michael Robin Raupach (Mike) was recognised around the world as a pre-eminent researcher in the fields of micrometeorology and Earth System science. A scientist who combined a fertile imagination with outstanding analytical and mathematical skill, he played a pivotal role in transforming the way we understand and model interactions between those key components of the climate system, the living biosphere, and the atmosphere. Based on the fundamental advances he had made in the understanding of flow and transport of heat, water vapour, momentum and trace gases at plant canopy scales, Mike proceeded to apply this knowledge at regional and then global scales, providing us with some of the essential tools that are now being used to understand anthropogenic climate change. As well as a brilliant scientist, Mike was a much-valued mentor and supporter to colleagues around the world, especially to young scientists with whom he generously shared his help and insights.

Sever Sternhell DSc AO FAA FRACI CChem was a prominent figure in Australian organic chemistry, academia and public life for more than forty years. He held the Chair of Organic Chemistry at the University of Sydney from 1977 until his retirement in 1998. He was very influential, not only directly through his science and his leadership in Australian Chemistry, but also indirectly through the graduate students that he inspired and mentored, and the thousands of undergraduates he taught over the years. Sev undertook his PhD with Professor D. H. R. Barton (later Sir Derek Barton) at Imperial College, London, and it was there that he was introduced to NMR spectroscopy: NMR would become Sev’s major research area for the rest of his career. He was appointed as senior lecturer in organic chemistry at the University of Sydney in 1964 and, in 1977, he was appointed to the Chair of Organic Chemistry and Head of Department. Sev served as Head of the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney on two occasions. He is probably best known for his pioneering research into the use of NMR as a tool to unravel the structures of organic compounds. His seminal monograph (with Lloyd Jackman), Applications of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in organic chemistry, published in 1969, became a ‘bible’ to generations of organic chemists.

G. E. (Tim) Wall was one of Australia’s leading algebraists, whose work intersected many of the important algebraic themes of his era (roughly 1960–95). This biographical memoir follows his life from his birth in 1925 in Adelaide, through his professional career, mostly at the University of Sydney, giving some details of his family, personal interactions and research.

The role of climate modelling groups in the development of international agreements that aim to assess future climatic risks and limit greenhouse gas concentrations is not well recognised. It is arguable that no such agreements would have been possible without carefully designed and managed research programs that provided the data upon which these risks and thus, decisions were made. Many groups contributed data that underpinned the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report published in 2014 that led to the ground-breaking Paris Agreement. Australia’s contribution included the results of a CSIRO climate model which had its genesis in a relatively simple weather forecast model two decades previously. Two people were mainly responsible for the modelling program which led to this accomplishment—Barrie Hunt and Hal Gordon. A brief history of the program is described here and. Examining some basic metrics reveals some surprising impacts.

The CSIRO Priorities Method is a way to rank and display research priorities for publicly funded research. This paper describes the development and evolution of the method that was employed in CSIRO throughout the 1990s and, since that time, in several other research organisations in Asia and Europe. It comprises three elements: a framework, a process, and a results screen, and has been used for priority setting at a national, organisational, program and project level. Its key attributes are its simplicity, robustness, and adaptability. This paper fills a gap in the literature about this Method by summarising its development and use, and by providing online references to previously unavailable documents.

Robert (Bob) Crompton was a towering figure in low energy electron and ion physics in Australia and internationally, as witnessed by his seminal publications on swarm physics, atomic and molecular physics and gaseous electronics generally, his widely-read monograph with Sir Leonard Huxley on the subject of charged-particle transport, and the many personal and professional accolades and awards he received for his contributions to science, science policy and the general community. Born and educated in Adelaide, Crompton spent the majority of his long career at the Australian National University in Canberra, with numerous sabbatical periods in overseas laboratories where he fostered many important international research collaborations and lasting friendships.

Warning: This article discusses blood collecting in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It also contains the image of an unnamed Aboriginal man who may be deceased.

It is not without justification that the collecting of blood for genetic analysis is frequently associated with race science, but it is not solely or inevitably so. This history of Robert Kirk, a British–Australian population geneticist, confronts blood collecting in the twentieth century. Other histories have analysed the conflation of race with the science of inheritance in the first half of the twentieth century, and of the re-emergence of race in genomics at century’s end. Kirk’s practice of blood analysis and his support for Indigenous rights intercalates those periods, bridging interwar anti-racist theoretical geneticists, and late twentieth century genomic scientists. Through Kirk’s research activities we learn about the twinning of blood science and progressive politics, and the challenges and intersections that posed. Through Kirk’s legacy collection of blood samples now returned to Indigenous control, we see the potential transmutation of a problematic past into a promising future.

In this paper we examine the changes in the diversity of astronomers working in Australia, particularly the ratio of women compared to men, from 1966, when the Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) was formed, to 2023. This was a pivotal time, as there was a significant change to workplace law that enabled women who worked for Commonwealth departments to retain their permanent position once they married. We consider the impact on gender diversity and other marginalised groups in astronomy due to this and other changes in the law, through the membership records of the ASA. We focus on the experiences of female astronomers who have been at the leading edge of change, and women and men who have instigated strategies to increase the percentage of women employed in astronomy. The successes of two Australian Research Council (ARC) centres of excellence in achieving gender balance are considered as providing best practice models.

Dr Ferdinand von Sommer (~1800–49) was the first government geologist appointed in Western Australia, a state that today owes its prosperity largely to the discovery and development of its rich mineral deposits. During his relatively short life, Ferdinand left a trail of incredible and diverse achievements, exploits and mystery that extended across the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania during the first half of the nineteenth century. Although his credibility has been challenged and his character maligned—both then and now—this paper aims to showcase his wide-ranging scientific endeavours and contributions, and to present a more complete picture of Ferdinand von Sommer and his legacy.