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PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE PAPERS OF SIR ERNEST TITTERTON
10 January 1997

With the death of Sir Ernest Titterton in 1990, Australia lost one of its most controversial scientists. The Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Science Archives Project have now made a guide to his papers available on the World Wide Web at URL: www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/guides/titt/titterton.htm .

Titterton played an important role, both within the Australian scientific community and beyond it, for almost 50 years. He was highly regarded by some and attacked by others because of his forthright and uncompromising views about nuclear power. He was a leading figure in the wartime Manhattan Project and in the postwar Bikini Atoll weapons tests.

Appointed to a chair at the newly created Australian National University, Titterton became a leading figure in the development of nuclear physics research. He was instrumental in gaining funding for a number of accelerators, including the 14UD electrostatic accelerator in 1974, which was the most powerful of its type in the world at the time. His papers document the growth of Australian and international expertise in this field.

Titterton's papers, comprising 52 boxes of files, were deposited in the Australian Academy of Science's Basser Library three years before his death. Titterton was not able to sort through the files himself, and a great deal of work was required to organise them. They are now available for historians and researchers to use.

The guide to Titterton's papers contains a career summary and biographical memoir, photographs, and a detailed description of the papers. Among the papers are those from the Atomic Weapons Tests Safety Committee, the Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests relating to Maralinga, the Australian Atomic Energy Commission and the Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry.

The Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering Inc, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, CRA Limited, Energy Resources of Australia, PNC Exploration (Australia) Pty Ltd and Western Mining Corporation provided financial assistance for this project. The guide to the papers will be of great value to science historians examining the role of nuclear energy in Australia, and the biographical material will be useful to secondary school teachers and students undertaking projects on Australia's scientists.