The Australian Academy of Science has announced Professor Barry Ninham AO FAA as the recipient of the Matthew Flinders Award and lecture – one of Australia’s most prestigious honours for work in the physical sciences.
Professor Ninham is the world’s leading researcher in colloid and surface science, an interdisciplinary science where the physical, chemical and biological sciences meet. Among pioneering contributions to the natural sciences, his best known work is that in the self-assembly of biological molecules and in the theory of molecular forces.
Professor Ninham and his team have developed world first technologies for desalination and to clean recycled water of bacteria, viruses, drugs, and other impurities such as arsenic and nuclear waste. Compared to current technologies the new methods are much simpler and substantially cheaper.
Professor Ninham and his colleagues have formed RENEWater. This new venture is working with UNSW and industry to take the technology to the third world, disaster zones and anywhere clean water is difficult to obtain. It is expected that these technologies will have significant commercial applications.
Professor Andrew Holmes, President of the Australian Academy of Science, says awarding the Medal to Professor Ninham was just a small recognition of the vast impact his work has had in science and research around the globe.
“He has achieved so much in his field, it is hard to measure his impact,” said Professor Holmes.
“Over his career, he has published hundreds of research papers which have profoundly influenced the way scientists approach work in their field.”
“Professor Ninham also founded the Department of Applied Mathematics at the Australian National University in 1970, bringing theoreticians and experimentalists together for the first time in Australia.”
Professor Holmes said the department was one of the most prestigious in the country, having produced more than 100 professors in its esteemed history.
The Matthew Flinders Medal, which was named after one of Australia’s early scientific researchers, is presented every two years to Australia’s most influential and inspiring scientists working in the physical sciences.
Professor Ninham will be presented the Medal at Science at the Shine Dome in 2017, where he will deliver a lecture to leaders in the Australian scientific community.
Professor Ninham joins other recipients such as Professor Frank Fenner AC CMG MBE FAA FRS, Sir Mark Laurence Oliphant AC KBE FAA FRS FTSE, and Professor Joseph Lade Pawsey FAA FRS.
Professor Barry Ninham is available for interview on Wednesday 28 September, please contact Dion Pretorius on 0418281777 to arrange.
© 2024 Australian Academy of Science
