Fellows' biographical memoirs

Professor John Carver AM FAA FTSE was a physicist and scientific administrator whose research spanned nuclear physics, atomic and molecular physics, and planetary atmospheric physics.

John Cowley contributed significantly to all of the fields that relate to electron diffraction and electron microscopy, and helped to found not a few of them. His name is associated in particular with n-beam dynamical theory, high-resolution electron microscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy, instrumental design, and the application of the techniques of electron scattering to structure analysis.

Professor John Swan AO FAA FTSE was an accomplished organic chemist and academic leader who contributed his expertise to a variety of scientific and policy bodies.

Professor John Chappell FAA was a geoscientist whose work on Quaternary sea-level change, landscapes and climate helped to link Earth’s ice volume, sea levels and past climates.

John Oswald Newton was internationally distinguished for his work in nuclear structure and heavy-ion reactions, and played an instrumental role in enhancing Australia’s nuclear science capability.

Paul Wild was an Australian radio astronomer who pioneered solar radio research, invented new instruments, and served as Chairman of CSIRO during its modernisation.

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.

John Anderson was born in Sydney on 5 March 1928 and died in Melbourne on 26 February 2007. He was educated at Sydney Boys’ High School, Sydney Technical College, the New South Wales University of Technology (now the University of New South Wales) and the University of Cambridge.

John Booker was born at Crown Street Hospital in Sydney on the 24 July, 1942. His mother was Beryl Joan Booker (née Nagle) and his father was Jack Edgar Booker, an accountant and teacher. John had a younger sister Judith, who was born in 1950.

This memoir discusses John Philip’s character and his work as Australia’s most distinguished environmental physicist. It explores his management of science and his role in the Australian Academy of Science as well as his poetry and his fascination with architecture.