Fellows update: February 2026
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Honours and awards to Fellows
Emeritus Professor Bruce Armstrong AC FAA – appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia
Professor John Cannon AO FAA – appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia
Professor Mark Cassidy AM FAA FTSE – appointed a Member of the Order of Australia
Professor Graeme Clark AC FAA FTSE FRS – awarded the 2026 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, alongside Erwin Hochmair, Ingeborg Hochmair, and Blake Wilson
Professor Michelle Haber AM FAA FAHMS – Royal Society of New South Wales (RSNSW) James Cook Medal
Scientia Professor Xiaojing Hao FAA FTSE – RSNSW Edgeworth David Medal
Professor Anne Kelso AC FAA FAHMS – appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia
Professor Max Lu AO FAA FTSE – elected an International Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA).
Dr Linda Richards AO FAA FAHMS – recognised in the 2026 Australia Day Gala at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC
Scientia Professor Michelle Simmons AC FAA FTSE FRS – appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia
Obituaries
Professor Emma Johnston AO FAA FTSE
(11/6/1973 – 26/12/2025)
Professor Emma Johnston AO was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2022 recognising her leadership in the field of marine ecology, and her pioneering research which has been widely adopted into policy by governments in Australia and overseas.
Professor Johnston was also a highly influential leader, advocate and voice for Australian higher education, science and research, and diversity in STEM. She held leadership roles including at the University of Melbourne, University of Sydney and UNSW, as well as at Science and Technology Australia, the Ian Potter Foundation, CSIRO, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, and the Sydney Harbour Institute for Marine Science.
Combined with her extensive track record of science communication, mentorship and outreach, Johnston was an exceptional role model and science champion.
Professor Stephen Vickers Boyden AM FAA
(8/2/1925 – 26/12/2025)
Professor Stephen Boyden AM was elected to the Academy in 1966 for his contributions to immunology. He invented the Boyden Chamber, a laboratory device that allows researchers to measure how cells move toward or away from chemical signals.
In 1992, Professor Boyden became a founding member of the Nature and Society Forum, an organisation dedicated to improving society’s understanding of life processes and the place of humans in nature and how these relate to health and environmental issues facing people today. At the age of 98, he published the book Biorenaissance.
Professor Boyden gave his time generously to the Academy, serving on a number of committees.
Professor Boyden was interviewed by Professor Frank Fenner in 2003, where he spoke about his life and career.
Dr Michael (Mike) William McElhinny FAA
(9/12/1933 –14/2/2026)
Dr Mike McElhinny was elected to the Academy in 1981 for his work on palaeomagnetism. He was a pioneer in combining palaeomagnetic information with the theory of plate tectonics. His work included determining polar movement patterns in Africa, Australia, India and Madagascar, and notably he established the structure of the supercontinent Gondwanaland.
Dr McElhinny was born in London while his parents were on a period of home leave from India. The family returned to India then moved to South Africa when Mike was eight years old. He received his BSc (Hons) from Rhodes University in South Africa where he became a junior lecturer. In 1956, he spent time as a scientific officer at British Dielectric Research in London before taking a position as assistant lecturer in physics (later lecturer, then senior lecturer) at University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (now the University of Zimbabwe). In 1967, Mike moved to Australia and the position of Senior Fellow in Geophysics within the Department of Geophysics and Geochemistry at the Australian National University. In 1982, he became Chief of Geophysics at the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics (now Geoscience Australia). In 1988, Dr McElhinny and his wife, Jo Lock, founded Gondwana Consultants to digitise and standardise global paleomagnetic data.
Dr McElhinny was awarded the Academy’s Mawson Medal (1983) and the American Geophysical Union’s Fleming Medal (1988). He also received an Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Western Australia (2003).
Dr McElhinny gave his time generously to the Academy over more than two decades.
Recently published biographical memoirs
Alongside the many fascinating history of science articles published in our journal, Historical Records of Australian Science, we publish biographical memoirs – biographies of deceased Fellows commissioned by the Academy. We are very grateful to all the authors who go to great lengths to make these articles as complete as possible.
Recent biographical memoirs:
John Oswald Newton (1924–2016)
Andrew (Andy) Reginald Howard Cole (1924–2024)