The latest edition of Historical Records of Australian Science is full of fascinating content with historical articles, biographical memoirs, a historical document and associated expert commentary, the annual bibliography of Australian science, and a collection of reviews compiled by new book review editor, Dr Martin Bush.
Fellows of the Academy Lord Robert May, David Buckingham, Mervyn Paterson, and Scott Sloan are the subjects of biographical memoirs. Lord Robert May began his career as a theoretical physicist but made major contributions to mathematical analysis of ecological systems, with applications as diverse as the study of infectious diseases. He was President of the Royal Society in 2000–2005, chief scientific adviser to the UK government between 1995 and 2000, and as a member of the House of Lords he played an important role in the making of science policy in Britain.
David Buckingham played first-class cricket at Oxford and Cambridge but stuck to his original field of chemistry and brought new life to the exploration of the physical properties of molecules. Mervyn Paterson designed and built equipment to study the behaviour of rocks under conditions of high pressure and temperature, and his work had practical applications in the field of geodynamics. Scott Sloan, engineer, fisherman and blues guitarist is remembered for computational models he developed for prediction of the movement of soil and rock masses. His models were important in the design of safer civil infrastructure.
The breadth of the Journal’s coverage is exemplified not only in the biographical memoirs. Contributed articles deal with subjects as diverse as pharmacology, astronomy, and botany. In each case the story includes more than just the science. Ian Rae’s article about drug research describes collaboration between university chemists, physiologists and pharmacologists and their links with the pharmaceutical industry. Martin Bush’s account of Mary Proctor’s efforts to have a solar observatory established reveals much about bureaucratic competition in two Australian colonies and New Zealand and depicts her as an important figure in science communication in the early twentieth century.
In the middle of the eighteenth century, Georg Rumphius described a tree growing in islands to the north of Australia, decades before it was described here and now known as Eucalyptus deglupta. Rod Fensham has provided a translation of Rumphius’ 1743 article and a discussion of the rich history surrounding the identification and naming of Eucalyptus.
The depth of this issue is also evident in its book reviews, and to a striking degree in the bibliography of history and science compiled by Helen Cohn.
Read and Publish
Researchers from institutions with Read and Publish agreements in place can publish articles Open Access in a number of CSIRO publishing journals – including Historical Records of Australian Science – at no additional cost to their research project.
These agreements are underpinned by current subscription fees funded by the institution’s library enabling broader availability of Open Access Publishing
© 2024 Australian Academy of Science
