Conversations with Australian scientists

James Douglas (Jim) Morrison was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1924. Morrison completed his higher education at Glasgow University with a BSc (Hons) in chemistry (1945) and a PhD in X-ray crystallography (1948). Morrison was also awarded a DSc from Glasgow University in 1958. In 1949 Morrison left the cold and gloom of Scotland for sunny Australia and a position as a research officer in the division of Industrial Chemistry at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Professor Joseph Gani was born in 1924, in Cairo, Egypt. He studied at Imperial College, London, and earned a BSc (hons) in 1947 and a DIC in 1948. He obtained a PhD in statistics from the Australian National University in 1955. In 1970 he was awarded a DSc from London University. Professor Gani moved to Australia in 1948 and worked as a lecturer in applied mathematics at the University of Melbourne from 1948 to 1950.

John Oswald Newton was born in 1924 in Birmingham, England. He won a scholarship to St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, where he completed the first two years of his bachelors degree (BA, 1944) before joining the war effort in 1943. During WWII Newton worked as a junior scientific officer at the radar facility in Malvern. In 1946, he was able to return to the Cavendish laboratory at Cambridge to finish his MA (1948) and later his PhD (1953).

Professor John Sprent was born in 1915, in Mill Hill, England. He received an MRCVS diploma from the Royal Veterinary College in London in 1939. In 1942 he was awarded a BSc in zoology with first class honours from the University of London. After receiving his degree, Sprent went to work at the Vom Veterinary Station in Nigeria. His work there, on Bunostomum phlebotomum (hookworms) in cattle, resulted in a PhD (1945) from the University of London, where he also received a DSc in 1953.

Professor Jonathan Stone was born in 1942 in Auckland, New Zealand and moved to Australia with his parents when he was a baby. He received a Bachelor of Medical Science from the University of Sydney in 1963 and a PhD in 1966.

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.

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.

Nancy Millis received a Bachelor of Agricultural Science in 1945, a Master of Agricultural Science in 1948 and a Doctorate in Science (Hon) in 1993, all from the University of Melbourne. She was awarded a Boots Research Scholarship in the UK and used it to study at the University of Bristol where she received a PhD in 1952. Her doctoral research was on microbial growth and fermentation in cider that started her lifelong interest in anything that ferments.

Neville Fletcher was born in Armidale, NSW in 1930. He was educated at Armidale Demonstration School (1935-41) and at Armidale High School (1942-46). He attended New England University College, which was part of Sydney University, receiving a BSc in 1951. Fletcher then went to Harvard University where he gained a PhD in 1955 for his research on impurity levels in semiconductors.