Conversations with Australian scientists

Professor Brian Anderson was born in Sydney, Australia in 1941. He attended the University Sydney graduating with a degree in both engineering and mathematics. Professor Anderson received a PhD from Stanford University in the mid–1960s and stayed on as a faculty member before returning to Australia in 1967. He worked as a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Newcastle until 1982 when he moved to the Australian National University in Canberra to found a new Department of Systems Engineering within the Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering. In 1994 Professor Anderson oversaw the establishment of the Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering and was the School’s Director until 2002. Between 1998 and 2002, Professor Anderson was President of the Australian Academy of Science. From 2003–06, he was Chief Scientist of the organisation National Information Communication Technology Australia (NICTA). Professor Anderson continues his passion for research in his role as Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University. Interviewed by Professor Neville Fletcher in 2008.

Brian Schmidt was born in 1967 in Montana, USA. In 1989 he received a BSc in physics and a BSc in astronomy from the University of Arizona. He went to Harvard University for graduate work and received a PhD in astronomy in 1993. His thesis research was into Type II supernovae, expanding photospheres and extragalactic distance.

Bruce Holloway interviewed by Professor Ray Martin in 2008. Bruce Holloway received a BSc (hons) from the University of Adelaide in 1948. He had done some of his honours year research at the Waite Agricultural Research Institute and after his graduation returned to the Waite as a lecturer in plant pathology from 1949 to 1950.

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.

Cheryl Praeger was born in Toowoomba, Queensland in 1948. In 1970 she received a BSc Hons from the University of Queensland, having concentrated on mathematics. Praeger was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to Oxford University where she studied group theory under Dr Peter Neumann, receiving a MSc in 1972 and a DPhil in 1974. She returned to Australia in 1973 to take up a position as a research fellow in mathematics at the Australian National University.

Professor Chris Christiansen was born in 1913 in Melbourne. From the University of Melbourne he received a BSc in 1934, an MSc in 1935 and a DSc in 1953. In 1980 he was awarded a DScEng from the University of Sydney. After graduating with his MSc he was a physicist at the Commonwealth X-ray and Radium Laboratory in Sydney for two years.

President of the Australian Academy of Science 1990-94.

Professor David Curtis interviewed by Dr Max Blythe in 1993. Professor David Curtis was born in 1927 in Melbourne. He received a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from the University of Melbourne in 1950. After completing his medical training he spent from 1951 to 1953 as a resident medical officer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and from 1953 to 1954 as a registrar at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.

Professor David de Kretser interviewed by Sir Gustav Nossal in 2008. David de Kretser was born in Sri Lanka on the 27th of April 1939. He immigrated to Australia with his parents and brother in 1949. de Kretser was educated at Camberwell Grammar School and completed his university studies at the University of Melbourne (M.B.,B.S., 1962) and Monash University (M.D., 1969). de Kretser’s M.D. research was focused on the structure and function of the human testis.

Professor Donald Metcalf interviewed by Dr Max Blythe in 1998. Professor Donald Metcalf was born in 1929 in Mittagong, New South Wales and was educated at the University of Sydney. In 1951 he received a BSc (Med). He earned an MB BS in 1953 for his work on the ectromelia virus; this research was the beginning of his interest in haematology.