Conversations with Australian scientists

Professor Lawrence Lyons interviewed by Professor John White in 2008. Lawrence Lyons was born in 1922, in Sydney. He began studying at the University of Sydney when he was 16 years old. In 1942 he completed an honours degree researching the effects of nitrogen and carbon monoxide on the photolysis of acetone. He received a PhD (1952) and a DSc (1964) from the University of London.

Professor Lesley Rogers interviewed by Professor John Bradshaw in 2001. Lesley Rogers was born in Brisbane in 1943. She received a BSc (Hons) from Adelaide University in 1964, where she investigated the physiology of long-necked tortoises.

Professor Louis Davies interviewed by Professor David Craig in 1999. Professor Louis Davies received a BSc Hons from the University of Sydney in 1948 and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study plasma physics at Oxford University, for which he received a DPhil in 1951. Returning to Australia, he joined the Division of Radiophysics of CSIRO.

Interviewed by Professor Graham Farquhar on 21 November 2011. Mandyam Veerambudi Srinivasan (Srini) was born in Poona, India in 1948. Srini's early interests in making transistor radios with his dad led to an undergraduate degree in engineering at Bangalore University (1963-1968), where he learnt the many facets of engineering.

Marcela’s family fled Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1968, settling in Australia to ensure safety and better educational opportunities. Her parents fostered curiosity and independence, leading her to excel in science, pursue international research in physics and plasma technology, and later return to Australia as the first female Professor of Applied Physics at the University of Sydney. Interviewed by Ms Marian Heard in 2001.

Professor Maria Skyllas-Kazacos was one of Australia's first female professors in chemical engineering and the pioneer of the Vanadium Redox Battery which was developed at the University of New South Wales during the late 1980s and 1990s and is now being commercialised around the world in a wide range of energy storage applications. Maria has a great passion for her research work, and has always felt a strong commitment to the environment.

Professor Marilyn Renfree interviewed by Dr Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe in 2000. Marilyn Renfree was born in 1947 in Brisbane, Queensland. She received a BSc in 1968 a PhD in 1972 and a DSc in 1988 all from the Australian National University. In 1972-73 Renfree was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Zoology at the University of Tennessee, where she investigated human uterine proteins and the factors affecting them.

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.

Professor Mervyn Paterson interviewed by Professor Kurt Lambeck in 2006. Professor Mervyn Paterson is a geophysicist who has led Australian research into rock mechanics and pioneered instrument development over the last fifty years. He was born in South Australia in 1925 into a family of wheat farmers. He attended Adelaide Technical High School, then The University of Adelaide from 1941 to 1943.

Professor Mollie Holman interviewed by Dr Max Blythe in 1998. Mollie Holman received a BSc (Hons) from the University of Melbourne in 1951. From 1953 to 1954 Holman was a demonstrator in pharmacology as well as working in a research laboratory where she developed equipment to measure membrane potentials in frog skin and muscles.