Fellows' biographical memoirs

Professor Walter Macfarlane FAA was a physiologist whose work spanned an extraordinary range of fields – from parasitology to clinical medicine to desert adaptation.

Wes Whitten was a veterinary scientist whose groundbreaking work on reproductive cycles, fertilisation and embryo development led to infertility treatment in humans.

Chris Christiansen was a physicist and engineer whose innovations shaped radio astronomy in Australia.

Professor Wilfred Simmonds was a leading physiologist known for his research investigating fat absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, producing findings with clinical significance.

Professor William (Bill) Budd was a founding figure in Australian glaciology, and the first glaciology program leader of the Australian Antarctic Division.

William Swinbank was a meteorological physicist who served as Chief Research Scientist at CSIRO for 10 years, where he advanced the field of micrometeorology and helped establish ozone monitoring in Australia.

William Hayes, physician, microbiologist and geneticist, made his own special contribution to modern genetics and molecular biology in a manner quite different from that of any of his contemporaries. Bill, as he was universally known, was an unlikely candidate for such distinction. It is interesting to speculate on the events that transformed someone likely to have had a distinguished but still traditional medical career into a world renowned scientist who influenced a whole generation of microbiologists and geneticists.

Professor Bill Wittrick FAA FRS was an engineer known for advancing theory in elasticity, shell structures, and stability, who taught aeronautical engineering in Australia for 20 years.

Professor Bill Elliott made substantial contributions to biochemistry, including the discovery of enzyme systems, and established a biotechnology company.

Sir Ian Potter was a financier, stockbroker and philanthropist known for his support of the arts, science and education.