Ross Henry Day 1927–2018
Ross Henry Day was an Australian experimental psychologist well known for his research on visual illusions and for his critical role in the establishment of experimental psychology in Australia.
This role began with his creation of Australia’s first department of experimental psychology at Monash University in 1965. He also played a leading role in the formation of the Australian Psychological Society in 1966, and in the introduction to Australia of the study of human factors in engineering and ergonomics.
He was the first psychologist to be elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
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About this memoir
This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 33(2), 2022. It was written by Max Coltheart and Nicholas J. Wade.
Hans Charles Freeman 1929–2008
Hans Freeman was born in Germany and arrived in Australia with his parents in 1938. A brilliant student at the University of Sydney, he spent a seminal year at the California Institute of Technology before joining the staff at Sydney and initiating research on bioinorganic chemistry, studying metal ion complexes of compounds of biological significance such as amino acids, peptides and proteins.
In his use of X-ray crystallography he was a pioneer in Australia, constructing his first crystallographic apparatus and mastering the necessary computing, at first by hand but soon with electronic computers. The culmination of his work with a series of collaborators was the structure of the blue, copper-containing metalloprotein, plastocyanin. Freeman also employed another advanced technique – X-ray spectroscopy and the study of X-ray absorption fine structure.
He was a leading figure in Australia and internationally, and played an important role in gaining access for Australian scientists to international facilities such as synchrotron radiation sources at the dawning of the era of ‘Big Science’.
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About this memoir
This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 33(2), 2022. It was written by Trevor W. Hambley and Ian D. Rae.
Geoffrey Burnstock 1929–2020
Geoffrey Burnstock was a biomedical scientist who gained renown for his discovery that adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) functions as an extracellular signalling molecule.
Born in London and educated at King’s and University Colleges, he did postdoctoral work at Mill Hill and Oxford. He moved in 1959 to the Department of Zoology at the University of Melbourne because he sensed there a greater freedom to challenge established thinking in physiology.
His group found that transmission from sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic nerves to smooth muscle was in some places not mediated by the accepted chemical messengers (noradrenaline and acetylcholine). He amassed evidence that ATP was this non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic (NANC) transmitter, using biochemical, histological and electrophysiological approaches: heretically, he styled this ‘purinergic transmission’.
Geoff further upset dogma in the 1970s by proposing ‘co-transmission’ in which some nerves released ATP in addition to either noradrenaline or acetylcholine. He distinguished pharmacologically P1 receptors (activated best by adenosine and blocked by xanthines) and P2 receptors (activated best by purine nucleotides such as ATP) and he proposed in 1985 that the latter embraced P2X (ion channel) and P2Y (G protein-coupled) subtypes: about ten years later these categories were substantiated by cDNA cloning.
From 1975 until his retirement in 1997, Geoff was head of Anatomy and Embryology at University College London (UCL), which he developed energetically into a large and strong research department. Later, as head of the Autonomic Research Institute at the Royal Free (part of UCL), he continued to collaborate extensively, and founded several journals and international professional societies. He widely sought clinical benefit for his discoveries, and both P2X and P2Y receptors have been developed as the targets of useful therapeutics (gefapixant, clopidogrel).
Geoff was proud of his modest, rather humble, background and eschewed formality. He may have smiled when his early discoveries were met with cynicism, even ridicule (‘pure-imagine’ transmission noted one amusing critic), but this just reinforced his resolve and encouraged his encyclopaedic oeuvre.
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About this memoir
This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 33(2), 2022. It was written by R. Alan North and Marcello Costa.
Roy Woodall 1930–2021
Facing a choice between postgraduate study and the world of work, Roy Woodall took the advice of his research supervisor at the University of California, Berkeley, to return to Australia and find ore deposits. He spent almost all his working life with Western Mining Corporation where, from 1967 to 2001, he was successively Chief Geologist, Exploration Manager, and Director of Exploration. From humble beginnings he formed and led the team that became Australia’s greatest discoverer of ore deposits, including Olympic Dam, while he was recognised internationally as an icon in the mineral exploration world.
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About this memoir
This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 34(2), 2023. It was written by Phil McFadden.
Guy Kendall White 1925–2018
Guy Kendall White graduated from the University of Sydney, obtaining a BSc (Hons) (1st class) in 1945 and an MSc in 1947. He attended the University of Oxford and obtained a DPhil, studying low-temperature physics in the Clarendon Laboratory.
He had a productive research career as a condensed matter experimental physicist, focusing on transport and thermophysical properties of solids at low temperatures.
He had an extensive network of international collaborators and, in 1959, authored Experimental techniques in low-temperature physics, which came to be regarded as an essential handbook for those doing low-temperature physics.
He was a world leader in the field of thermal expansion in solids at low temperatures. He produced important compilations of thermophysical data that are of great value to technologists, scientists and engineers.
He was influential in the development of the discipline of solid state physics in Australia, and his mentoring launched the careers of many young scientists.
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About this memoir
This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 34(1), 2023. It was written by Stephen J. Collocott and Trevor R. Finlayson.
George Ernest Rogers 1927–2021
George Rogers (1927–2021) was elected to Fellowship of the Academy in 1977 for his outstanding contributions to our knowledge of the molecular structure of keratins and the biochemistry of keratinisation.
He was a pioneer in the application of electron microscopy to hair and wool ultrastructure and to that of the hair follicle. He discovered citrulline in keratin proteins, and the enzymes, roles, and histochemical localisation of transglutaminase and peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD). He was the first to demonstrate ribosomal-dependent keratin protein synthesis in 1965 followed by detailed studies of the biosynthesis of hair keratin proteins.
His research initiated studies on the molecular events in the development of the feather follicle and later led to the cloning and characterisation of the clustered genes of feather and related avian keratins. He also cloned and characterised genes for the three classes of wool keratin proteins and studied the transcription of keratin genes.
In 1977, he was awarded a DSc by the University of Adelaide in recognition for his work. In 2013, he was made an Officer in the Order of Australia.
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About this memoir
This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 34(2), 2023. It was written by Racheline (Lynn) Rogers.
William (Bill) Francis Budd 1938–2022
Professor William (Bill) Budd was a founding figure in Australian glaciology, and the first glaciology program leader of the Australian Antarctic Division.
Bill worked on an enormous range of glaciological and meteorological problems covering numerical modelling of ice sheets and glaciers, including surging glaciers; ice mechanics; ice crystallography; ice core paleoclimatic studies; relationships between sea ice and climate; and katabatic wind and snow drift studies.
Bill introduced and led studies of ice sheet mass budget, ice rheology, ice sheet thermodynamics, iceberg distribution and movement, drifting snow, sea ice and climate interactions and much more. He initiated Australian ice core drilling (initially for study of ice dynamics and later for palaeoclimate research), radio echo sounding of ice thickness and satellite remote sensing of ice.
Much of what Bill Budd initiated more than 50 years ago remains core to the present-day Australian Antarctic glaciological research program.
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About this memoir
This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 35(1), 2023. It was written by Ian Allison, Jo Jacka and Derek Budd.
Rupert Horace Myers 1921–2019
Sir Rupert Horace Myers (1921–2019) was born in Melbourne and educated at Melbourne Boys High School and the University of Melbourne, where he was awarded a PhD degree in 1948 for research on the production of rare metals from Australian ores.
As part of an Australian delegation, he worked at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell in the United Kingdom on production of uranium and plutonium metals.
He returned to Australia in 1952 as foundation professor of metallurgy at the still very young University of New South Wales, where he later became vice-chancellor, serving from 1969 to 1981 before entering a long and fruitful retirement.
Knighted in 1981, he was a model of scientific and academic leadership in Australia.
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About this memoir
This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 35(1), 2024. It was written by Ian D. Rae.
Raymond Leslie Martin 1926–2020
Ray Martin (1926–2020) was a talented and successful academic and leader, who won numerous awards and made discoveries that changed fundamental knowledge of the sub-discipline of physical inorganic chemistry.
His journey over more than 90 years is one that demonstrates that he was one of nature’s gentlemen, who enjoyed sports, arts and people. He was passionate about science and discovery, and through a series of chance events, had a peripatetic life moving from academic positions, to industry, management, a vice chancellorship at Monash University, and then scientific advisor to the Australian Government. Throughout this journey, he always made strong friendships, was an exceptional teacher and outstanding mentor – he was a quiet achiever.
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This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 35(1), 2024. It was written by Lisandra L. Martin.
Ian McDougall 1935–2018
Ian McDougall was a renowned Earth scientist who gained worldwide distinction for his research in the fields of K-Ar and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology.
He was born in Hobart, Tasmania and obtained a BSc (Hons) at the University of Tasmania and a PhD at the Australian National University in Canberra. Following his PhD, he was introduced to the emerging field of K-Ar geochronology during a postdoctoral year at the University of Berkeley in 1961.
On his return to Australia, Ian accepted a position in the newly established K-Ar laboratory at the Australian National University. He pioneered the application of the K-Ar dating method to young volcanic rocks and played a pivotal role in developing the geomagnetic timescale. These findings provided crucial evidence in support of the ‘hot spot’ (mantle plume) model and the emerging theory of plate tectonics.
He subsequently established the 40Ar/39Ar geochronology method at the Australian National University and gained an international reputation for meticulous experimental work.
In the 1980s, he resolved a significant controversy with regard to the age of hominin fossils and artefacts in the Turkana Basin, Kenya. Over the following four decades, he developed a comprehensive geochronological framework for volcanism across the Turkana Basin, providing the basis for current interpretations of early human evolution in the region.
Other notable collaborative accomplishments include the application of the 40Ar/39Ar method to thermal history studies and noble gas geochemistry studies of volcanic glasses and mantle material, which provided insights into the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere and interior.
Ian’s scientific contributions were recognised with numerous honours and awards, including being elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and receiving the Jaeger Medal from the Australian Academy of Science and the Centenary Medal for ‘service to Australian society and science in geochronology’.
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About this memoir
This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 35(1), 2023. It was written by David Phillips.