Professor

Charles Birch

AM FAA

Charles Birch
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Dr. L. C. Birch is internationally known for his research in Population Ecology and Physiological Ecology of Animals, especially insects, and more recently he has worked on ecological aspects of Population Genetics. In these fields he has published, or has approaching publication, about forty papers, and one or two others of a philosophical character. With H.G. Andrewartha, he is the author of a book, ''The Distribution and Abundance of Animals"", University of Chicago Press, pp.782, 1954; Dr. Birch wrote about half the book. Besides his Readership in Zoology at the University of Sydney, Dr. Birch has held the following temporary positions: Research Fellowships and Scholarships at the Universities of Oxford, Chicago and Columbia, and has been a visiting Professor at the Universities of Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Minnesota.

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Conversation with scientist

Professor Charles Birch, ecologist

Charles developed an early fascination with biology through beetle collecting and inspiring teachers, which led him to study agriculture for its broad scientific scope and eventual focus on ecology. His career advanced from applied entomology to influential work on population regulation and later philosophical explorations of science, evolution, and the interplay between objective and subjective understanding of life. Interviewed by Professor Rick Shine in 2008.
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Professor

Arthur Birch

AC FAA FRS

Arthur Birch
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Known for his work on the structure of metal-ammonia solutions and their reducing activities. He has introduced a method, now known as the "Birch reduction", which permits the easy preparation of dihydrobenzene derivatives and which has been applied in particular to the first total synthesis of a compound with androgenic activity. He is also known for his work on the structures and biogeneses of natural products, including terpenoids and phenols.

Expertise type

  • Organic Chemistry
  • Chemistry

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Related

Memoir

Arthur John Birch 1915–1995

Arthur John Birch AC CMG FRS FAA was one of the great organic chemists of the twentieth century. He held chairs at the Universities of Sydney and Manchester and at the Australian National University in Canberra, and was President of the Australian Academy of Science from 1982 to 1986. His outstanding research contributions include the Birch reduction of aromatic compounds by sodium and ethanol in liquid ammonia, his polyketide theory of the biosynthesis of natural products, and his studies of synthetic applications of diene iron tricarbonyl complexes.
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Professor

Bob Bilger

FAA FTSE

Bob Bilger
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Professor Bilger has made important contributions to the study of turbulent reacting flows. Turbulent reacting flows are a generic class of scientific problems that are of classical intractability and are important in engines, furnaces, fires, explosions and in the environment. His contributions may be grouped into four research themes: mixing in variable density flows; turbulence-chemistry interactions; the development of conserved scalar theory; and conditional moment closure modelling. Professor Bilger's theoretical contributions have been internationally recognised and are based on innovative experimentation. They have given rise to novel approaches to mathematical modelling of combustion systems and their pollutant emissions.

Fields of research

40 ENGINEERING
  • 4017 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

For full list of research codes, please visit the ARC Website .

Expertise type

  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Turbulant Flow
  • Engineering

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Professor

Sam Berkovic

AC FAA FAHMS FRS

Sam Berkovic
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Samuel Berkovic has made discoveries about familial forms of epilepsy that have led to a complete overhaul of their clinical management and provided new insights into their underlying biology. His research has established that mutations in single genes encoding neuronal membrane channels cause epileptic seizures. Professor Berkovic and his collaborators have discovered eight of the twelve genes presently known for which mutations are associated with idiopathic epilepsies. These discoveries have revolutionised basic scientific research into epilepsy. Professor Berkovic’s research has been recognised over the past ten years by numerous awards and prizes within Australia and internationally.

Fields of research

32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES
  • 3209 NEUROSCIENCES
    • 320905 Neurology and Neuromuscular Diseases

For full list of research codes, please visit the ARC Website .

Expertise type

  • Clinical
  • Epilepsy
  • Genetics
  • Medical Sciences

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Professor

Max Bennett

AO FAA

Max Bennett
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Distinguished for his contributions to neurobiology. After graduating in Electrical Engineering he became involved in a study of synaptic transmission at autonomic nerve-smooth muscle junctions which culminated in an authoritative monograph written in 1969 at the invitation of the British Physiological Society. Subsequently, at the University of Sydney, he has been involved in analysing the factors which regulate the release of noradrenaline and acetylcholine from nerve terminals, and the mechanisms which determine the sites at which nerve terminals form synapses, both during development and after nerve lesions. His vigorous approach, technical expertise, and clarity in expressing and interpreting his observations have attracted a number of high quality graduate students, and in all aspects of his research he continues to contribute fundamental and very significant observations which undoubtedly assist the clarification of our understanding of synaptic mechanisms.

Expertise type

  • Medical Sciences
  • Neuroscience
  • Physiology
  • Synapses

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Related

Conversation with scientist

Professor Max Bennett, neurobiologist

Max grew up in Melbourne with a Jewish father and Irish Catholic mother, navigating contrasting cultural and religious influences that shaped his early philosophical curiosity and eventual pursuit of engineering. His career evolved from engineering into groundbreaking neuroscience research, where he discovered new mechanisms of nerve transmission and explored synaptic function, plasticity, and consciousness, becoming a leading figure in physiology and neurobiology. Interviewed by Dr Max Blythe in 1996.
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Professor

Kathy Belov

AO FAA

Kathy Belov
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Kathy Belov is acknowledged for her ground-breaking work using genetics and genomics to trace the evolution of mammalian immunity to overturn the paradigm that marsupials and monotremes have primitive immune systems. She has shown that lineage specific evolutionary innovations provide marsupials and monotremes with additional defence mechanisms and that these offer exciting drug leads for humans and other animals. After determining the role that the Major Histocompatibility Complex plays in the spread of Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease, Belov led the genetic management of the recovery program to successfully increase immune fitness of wild populations through genetic rescue. She continues to work with government agencies to boost the immunogenetic resilience of native species threatened by disease.

Fields of research

31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
  • 3105 GENETICS
    • 310507 Genetic Immunology
    • 310509 Genomics
    • 60411 Population, Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics
  • 3109 ZOOLOGY
    • 310905 Animal Immunology
32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES
  • 3204 IMMUNOLOGY
    • 320406 Immunogenetics (incl. Genetic Immunology)
41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
  • 4104 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT
    • 410401 Conservation and biodiversity

For full list of research codes, please visit the ARC Website .

Expertise type

  • Marsupials
  • Antibacterial Discovery
  • Disease Resistance
  • Immunology
  • Biology
  • Biodiversity
  • Conservation Biology
  • Animal Biology
  • Disease Gene Identification
  • DNA Sequencing
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Genomics
  • Antibodies
  • Cancer Immunology
  • Mammals

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Professor

Tim Bedding

FAA

Tim Bedding
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Tim Bedding has played a leading role in establishing the field of asteroseismology, the study of stellar oscillations. This involves using the natural oscillation frequencies of stars to probe their interiors. He pioneered the detection of stellar oscillations with ground-based telescopes, including using the Anglo-Australian Telescope to make the first clear detections of oscillations in Sun-like stars. Bedding led the application of asteroseismology to red giant stars using NASA's Kepler Mission. In particular, he showed how to use a specific class of oscillations (so-called gravity modes) to reveal which red giants have started to burn helium deep within their cores.

Fields of research

51 PHYSICAL SCIENCES
  • 5101 ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCES
    • 510109 Stellar Astronomy and Planetary Systems

For full list of research codes, please visit the ARC Website .

Expertise type

  • Astronomy
  • Astrophysics
  • Stellar Evolution
  • Physics

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Professor

Athel Beckwith

AO FAA FRS

Athel Beckwith
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Professor A. L. J. Beckwith is a foremost authority in the field of organic free radical chemistry. He has made a major Australian contribution to this field, and is undoubtedly a world authority in the subject. He has made a special study of the mechanisms of free radical reactions and the application of new discoveries in this field to general organic synthesis. His work on thiyl radicals, and radicals generated from lead tetraacetate and from organo-copper complexes is outstanding. Beckwith is also making important contributions to an understanding and application of free-radical rearrangement reactions.

Expertise type

  • Free radical chemistry
  • Organic Chemistry
  • Chemistry
  • Free Radicals

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Related

Memoir

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.
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Conversation with scientist

Professor Athel Beckwith, organic chemist

Professor Athel Beckwith was a pioneering Australian organic chemist renowned for his research on the structure and behavior of organic free radicals, earning international recognition. His life story reflects a blend of scientific brilliance and resilience, from overcoming severe childhood illness to shaping modern radical chemistry and stereoelectronic theory, while maintaining deep interests in music, education, and social issues. Interviewed by Professor Bob Crompton in 2003.
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Professor

Lyn Beazley

AO FAA FTSE

Lyn Beazley
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Lyn Beazley AO is a distinguished neuroscientist and 2015 West Australian of the Year who has made a major contribution to the promotion and direction of science in Australia. As Chief Scientist for Western Australia (the first female to hold such a state role nationally) she championed gender diversity and science in the classroom through programs such as Microscopes in Schools, in addition to shaping science policy. Lyn is also well known for promoting science and technology in the media and she played a key role in bringing the internationally successful FameLab science communication competition to Australia.

Expertise type

  • Biology
  • Nervous System
  • Neuroscience
  • Vision
  • Marsupials
  • Autism

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Sir

Philip Baxter

KBE CMG FAA

Philip Baxter
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Well known for his services to governmental, industrial and academic science, especially in the United Kingdom as a Research Manager and later Director of I.C.I. General Chemicals, and in Australia as the Foundation Professor of Chemical Engineering and subsequently Director of the N.S.W University of Technology, and since 1953 as Deputy Chairman and Senior Scientific Member of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission.

Expertise type

  • Chemistry
  • Chemical Engineering

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.

Related

Memoir

John Philip Baxter 1905-1989

John Philip Baxter was born on 7 May 1905 in Machynlleth, North Wales. His father, John Baxter, was the oldest of four children left fatherless at an early age. He began work as a telegraphist with the British Post Office, studied at night school to become an engineer and eventually, after a series of promotions, was in charge of the South West Region, based in Bristol.
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