Australian Academy Of Science Research Articles

Chennupati Jagadish [Profiles in Nano

Prof. Chennupati Jagadish is a distinguished professor and the head of the Semiconductor Optoelectronics and Nanotechnology Group in the Research School of Physics and Engineering at the Australian National University (ANU). He also serves as vice president and secretary of physical sciences at the Australian Academy of Science. Jagadish is an editor/associate editor of six journals and three book series and serves on editorial boards of 19 other journals. He has published more than 820 research papers (550 journal papers), holds five U.S. patents, coauthored a book, coedited eight books, and edited 12 conference proceedings and 15 special issues of journals.

Lloyd Thomas Evans 1927–2015

Lloyd Evans, a leading plant scientist, published extensively on the regulation of flowering and on crop production during a lifetime spent in research at CSIRO. His significant achievements included: identification of a gibberellin plant hormone as a flowering regulator in the grass Lolium temulentum; discovery of a synthetic gibberellin growth retardant that blocked endogenous gibberellin synthesis; and discovery in Pharbitis of a novel biological flowering clock with a 12h (semidian) period. In crops, he established the impact on yield of photosynthate production and transport to competing sinks. Two of his books, Crop Evolution: Adaptation and Yield and Feeding the Ten Billion have had a major influence on agricultural research and policy. His ability to define research options led to many years of international advisory work. He was an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), and of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) (including a term as president).

Lessons learned in Andrology: revelations on a road less traveled.

Laureate Professor Aitken’s research career began with a PhD in reproductive biology from the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge under the supervision of RV Short. Following postdoctoral positions at the Institute of Animal Genetics, University of Edinburgh and the University of Bordeaux, he joined the World Health Organization in Geneva, where he managed two WHO task forces within the Human Reproduction Unit. In 1977, he was appointed to the Medical Research Council’s Reproductive Biology Unit, University of Edinburgh, to establish a research group in gamete biology with clinical outreach into male infertility. In 1998 he moved to the University of Newcastle, NSW, as Chair of Biological Sciences and, later, as Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology and Development. He is currently Pro Vice Chancellor of the Faculty of Health and Medicine. John has published over 500 research articles and his work has been cited >27 000 times. He has received numerous awards including the Simmett prize for reproductive biotechnology and in 2012 was named as NSW Scientist-of-the-year. John is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Society of New South Wales and the Australian Academy for Health and Medical Sciences. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and President of the International Society of Andrology.

Michael Raupach (1950–2015)

Michael Raupach (1950–2015)

Stephen John Angyal 1914–2012

Stephen Angyal was born in Budapest, Hungary, on 21 November 1914 and died in Sydney on 14 May 2012. He had a distinguished career as an organic chemist as a lecturer in chemistry at Sydney University (1946–52), as an associate professor in organic chemistry at the New South Wales University of Technology (1953–9), and as Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of New South Wales (1960–79) where he served as Head of School (1968–70) and Dean of the Faculty of Science (1970–9). He was internationally recognized for his contributions in the fields of inositol and carbohydrate chemistry, being appointed as the Haworth Memorial Lecturer of the Chemical Society, London, in 1980 and as the recipient of the Claude S. Hudson Award of the American Chemical Society in 1987. He was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1962 and as an External Member of the Hungarian Academy of Science in 1990 and his contributions to science in Australia were acknowledged in the award of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1977.

George Dionisios Dracoulis

Nuclear physicist George Dionisios Dracoulis had a vibrant and charismatic personality. As a meticulous researcher, he was known for the reliability of his results—if George had measured it, then you knew it was right. And he took his wit and wisdom outside the laboratory when he served as a respected science adviser to the Australian government. He passed away at home in Canberra, Australia, on 19 June 2014 after a short battle with cancer.George Dionisios DracoulisPPT|High resolutionBorn in Melbourne, Australia, on 19 December 1944, George pursued his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the University of Melbourne, from which he received a PhD in nuclear physics in 1970. After a three-year postdoctoral research position at the University of Manchester in the UK, he returned to Australia to take a research position at the Australian National University in Canberra, where the world’s largest tandem Van de Graaff heavy-ion accelerator was under construction. George played an integral, and soon leading, role in the accelerator’s development and exploitation as a research facility. As head of the university’s department of nuclear physics from 1992 until his retirement in 2009, he established it as one of the most respected nuclear-physics laboratories in the world.In retirement, George continued as an indefatigable researcher. He traveled the world to perform experiments and speak at conferences until diagnosed with kidney cancer in March of this year. In addition to having a network of friends and colleagues around the globe, George enjoyed extended visits to Stony Brook University in New York, Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, and the University of Surrey in the UK.George made seminal contributions to the understanding of nuclear structure: the way different nuclear shapes can coexist; the way nuclear vibrations, especially octupole vibrations, can couple to neutron and proton excitations; and the way metastable excited states, or isomers, can be used to probe nuclear spin and shape properties. He was renowned for the thoroughness of his experimental approach, which he combined with a deep physical understanding of nuclear phenomena.Among the numerous awards George received were the Australian Academy of Science’s 2003 Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal for outstanding contributions to our understanding of the structure of atomic nuclei and the Australian Institute of Physics’ 2004 Walter Boas Medal for excellence in physics research.George served as a member of the Australian Prime Minister’s Select Task Force on Uranium Mining, Processing and Nuclear Energy in 2006. As professor emeritus, he remained active in public education and continued to engage with the media and in the public discussion of nuclear energy and nuclear technology. George also continued his nuclear-physics research work until only a few weeks before he died.George will be greatly missed by his family, friends, and colleagues around the world.© 2014 American Institute of Physics.

Australia-Japan Neutron Science Workshop on “Sharing Science with Neutrons”

On November 5–6, 2014, the Australian Academy of Science, J-PARC and ANSTO hosted a two-day workshop, in Sydney Australia, on “Sharing Science with Neutrons.”The meeting was opened by Vice-Presiden...

John Barratt Moore 1941–2013

John Moore was born in Lungling, China on 3 April 1941 and died in Canberra on 19 January 2013. He was an electrical engineer who spent most of his distinguished career at the University of Newcastle and the Australian National University following industrial experience and graduate education in Silicon Valley, California. He was a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, achieving all honours at a comparatively early age, and was recognized principally for his contributions to the field of control systems.

Australian science needs more female fellows

The Australian Academy of Science must take urgent steps to address the lack of gender equality among its elected fellows, warns Douglas Hilton.

Editorial

This edition of Biographical Memoirs contains much fascinating material for the student of the History of the Sciences. In two cases, Norman E. Borlaug and Leslie E. Orgel, we have benefited from collaboration with the US National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC, and in three cases, Fraser J. Bergersen, Frank J. Fenner and Bernard Y. Mills, with the Australian Academy of Sciences.

Influencing Intended Teaching Practice: Exploring pre-service teachers’ perceptions of science teaching resources

Many researchers have identified and expressed concern over the state of science education internationally, but primary teachers face particular obstacles when teaching science due to their poor science background and low confidence with science. Research has suggested that exemplary resources, or units that work, may be an effective way to support primary teachers. This study explores the effect of one such resource on the intentions of pre-service primary teachers to teach science. The resource in question is Primary Connections, a series of learning resources produced by the Australian Academy of Science specifically designed for primary science. Evaluative studies of Primary Connections have indicated its efficacy with practising primary teachers but there is little evidence of its impact upon pre-service teachers. The purpose of this study was to investigate how effective these quality teaching resources were in influencing the intentions of primary pre-service teachers to teach science after they graduated. The theory of planned behaviour highlighted the linkage between the intentions of the pre-service teachers to teach science, and their awareness of and experiences with using Primary Connections during their education studies. This enabled key factors to be identified which influenced the intentions of the pre-service teachers to use Primary Connections to teach science after they graduate. The study also provided evidence of how quality science teaching resources can be effectively embedded in a teacher education programme as a means of encouraging and supporting pre-service teachers to teach science.

Editorial: Australian Chemistry under the Spotlight

Editorial: Australian Chemistry under the Spotlight

Profile: Brian Schmidt

Brian Schmidt was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2011 along with Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and of the US National Academy of Sciences. Schmidt has made significant contributions in observational cosmology, supernovae, gamma-ray bursts and all-sky surveys. Ragbir Bhathal interviewed him in 2006 for the National Oral History Project on significant Australian Astronomers sponsored by the National Library of Australia. (Photos: Belinda Pratten)

Athelstan Laurence Johnson Beckwith 1930 - 2010

Athel Beckwith was an organic chemist whose research was concerned with free radicals, the reactive intermediates that play important roles in many organic chemical reactions. After studies and junior appointments at Australian universities, at Oxford University he worked with W. A. Waters and completed his doctorate at a time when scepticism about the very existence of free radicals was being rolled back by a small group of experimentalists. Returning to Australia, where he occupied chairs at the University of Adelaide and the Australian National University, Beckwith used studies of organic structure and mechanisms, revealed by kinetic methods and electron spin resonance spectroscopy, to become a world leader in this field of chemistry. He was honoured by election to Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science (1973) and the Royal Society of London (1989), by several awards from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, and by membership of the Order of Australia (2004). His extensive travels, often accompanied by his wife Kaye and their children, to work in overseas chemical research laboratories and to give presentations at international meetings, helped him to secure his place in networks at the highest levels of his profession. Several those who studied with him now hold important positions in Australian chemistry.

In Memoriam: Frank John Fenner (1914–2010)

Frank John Fenner (Figure), one of the world’s most distinguished virologists and a dear friend of many colleagues around the world, died in Canberra, Australia, on November 22, 2010, at the age of 95. This In Memoriam must be different from those usually published here. After all, quite detailed pieces are anticipated from the Australian Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society, et al., and Frank had published a comprehensive autobiography (1). Thus, there is opportunity to present personal memories, hoping to provide more of a sense of the man, the colleague, and the friend of so many members of the global virology community. This tribute seems to fit in with the closing paragraphs of Frank’s autobiography, in which he reflects on friendship and special friends.

In memoriam: Frank John Fenner (1914-2010).

Frank John Fenner (Figure), one of the world’s most distinguished virologists and a dear friend of many colleagues around the world, died in Canberra, Australia, on November 22, 2010, at the age of 95. This In Memoriam must be different from those usually published here. After all, quite detailed pieces are anticipated from the Australian Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society, et al., and Frank had published a comprehensive autobiography (1). Thus, there is opportunity to present personal memories, hoping to provide more of a sense of the man, the colleague, and the friend of so many members of the global virology community. This tribute seems to fit in with the closing paragraphs of Frank’s autobiography, in which he reflects on friendship and special friends.

In Memoriam: Frank John Fenner (1914-2010)

Frank John Fenner (Figure), one of the world’s most distinguished virologists and a dear friend of many colleagues around the world, died in Canberra, Australia, on November 22, 2010, at the age of 95. This In Memoriam must be different from those usually published here. After all, quite detailed pieces are anticipated from the Australian Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society, et al., and Frank had published a comprehensive autobiography (1). Thus, there is opportunity to present personal memories, hoping to provide more of a sense of the man, the colleague, and the friend of so many members of the global virology community. This tribute seems to fit in with the closing paragraphs of Frank’s autobiography, in which he reflects on friendship and special friends.

Science and Land Use: The Kosciusko Primitive Area Dispute of 1958-65

Abstract The Primitive Area dispute of 1958-65 is a seminal episode in the development of a nature conservation philosophy in Australia. Led by the Australian Academy of Science (AAS) and informed by detailed and growing understanding of the specifics of ecology in the Australian Alps, the debate was a turning point in thinking about land use in the mountain catchments. This article examines the conflicts behind the scenes, within the AAS, between the AAS and the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority (SMA), and within the SMA. It argues that the scientists' conflict with the SMA over plans for the summit area of Mount Kosciusko (now Kosciuszko) not only established ecology as a scientific basis for conservation thinking: it foreshadowed the current idea that management of healthy country involves recognition of the links between aesthetic and scientific thinking. In this respect science had and still has the capacity to offer alternative visions to the community about the relationship between natural resource management and land health. An important element of modern environmentalism is community acceptance that broad ecological processes underpin sustainable landscapes. Growing concern about catchment health may well see renewed appreciation of the links between the ecological function of mountain catchments and their aesthetic and recreational value.

The next trailblazer of Australian science

Suzanne Cory is the first woman to take on the top job at the Australian Academy of Science.

Review: Old Fields: Dynamics and Restoration of Abandoned Farmland

Review: Old Fields: Dynamics and Restoration of Abandoned Farmland Viki A. Cramer and Richard J. Hobbs (Eds.) Reviewed by Joan Ellen Broome Georgia Southern University, USA Cramer, Viki A. and Richard J. Hobbs (Eds.). Old Fields: Dynamics and Restoration of Abandoned Farmland. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2007. 334 pp. ISBN 1597260754. US$40.00, paper. Recycled, acid free paper. The editors of Old Fields compiled what is the first international synthesis of research on the dynamics of land abandonment, whether it is former cropland, pasturage, or tree plantations. This alone makes it a laudable achievement. Both editors, Viki A. Cramer and Richard J. Hobbs, are affiliated with Murdoch University in Western Australia. Cramer is an ecologist in the School of Environmental Science where she teaches environmental restoration while Richard J. Hobbs is a fellow both there and at the Australian Academy of Science and serves as editor-in-chief of the journal Restoration Ecology. Together, in the first two chapters, they offer an overview of the body of work to date and outline the theoretical principles based on them. The case studies follow. Questions raised deal with the worldwide process of land abandonment and whether or not predictable patterns arise regardless of location. The post abandonment questions reckon with whether or not the dynamics of plant succession that follow once cultivated landscapes are peculiar to the locale or exhibit recognizable patterns globally. Why must these processes be investigated? Because understanding abandonment and post abandonment dynamics powerfully influence restoration ecology decisions. It is a useful work for scientists, practitioners and students of ecology. The interested generalist should await further synthesizing and a less technical approach. Cramer and Hobbs remind us that land abandonment is nothing new in human history. But the most recent version of it since records have been kept is instructive. The eastern U.S. became “the first region [on the planet] to experience significant abandonment of cropland from 1870 onward” (p. 3-5). The modern day experience in land abandonment has several causes. Among them are shifts in the demand for commodities in the world market that make a once intensely cultivated crop unprofitable; population explosions requiring human habitat development of former agricultural properties; intermittent environmental cataclysms like long term droughts; and long term abuses in production practices that led to catastrophes like deforestation. The research conducted covers a wide range of topographies. Case studies included are from Puerto Rico, Brazilian Amazonia, Australian Rain Forests, arid landscapes in Southeastern Spain and central Greece, shrub land in South Africa, and Michigan flatlands and the Piedmont area of New Jersey in the United States. One lapse in the book is the failure to mention one of the largest and dramatic restoration proposals in the U.S., which is also known as the “home of old fields ecology.” In the late 1980s, a super-sized restoration plan for the Great Plains poetically labeled “The Buffalo Commons” by the staid academicians who conceived it captured national headlines. The pair of scientists who devised this plan werefrom Rutgers University: Frank (international land use expert) and Deborah (geographer) Popper. The Poppers addressed their restoration plan at a conference of the Society for Ecological Restoration International in Chicago in June of 1990, where the couple and the concept (now accepted by initially hostile plains residents) received a warm welcome. The editors’ end chapter offers much to ponder as restoration ecology moves into new terrain, literally. Cramer and Hobbs observe that there are actually instances where restoration is not advisable. They rightly conclude that the models developed thus far were in “temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere” and may not apply in the other regions featured in some of these case studies. In areas where intense cultivation followed by abandonment are recent, restoration based on historically documented species that once occupied the space is possible. However, for “cultural landscapes,” in Europe especially, where the original ecosystem was disturbed centuries ago, restoration ecology is less likely. This realization leaves room for other creative options for abandoned lands.