Fellows' biographical memoirs

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.

William Rogers was a zoologist known for his work in parsitology, who reshaped how scientists thought about host–parasite relationships.

William Rowan Browne was born on 11 December 1884 at Lislea, County Derry, Ireland, the sixth of eight children born to James and Henrietta Browne, National School teachers. On both sides he descended from families long-established in that country though, by his own account, without particular eminence for learning or public service.

William R. Levick was one of Australia’s most distinguished neuroscientists, making fundamental contributions to our understanding of the neural circuitry of the retina and the visual pathways.

W.S. Robinson was an influential industrialist who shaped Australian policy on metals during both World Wars, advising prime ministers and ensuring vital supplies of raw materials.

Bill Williams was born in Fulham, London, on 18 April 1913, the only child of Thomas and Clara Williams. His father suffered from asthma and so had left Wales, where he had been a coalminer, to work in London but at what has not been ascertained. Whatever it was, his mother found it necessary to work as a midwife and charlady to ensure that Bill received a good education. Having no siblings, Bill spent much of his childhood at the home of his lifelong friend and scientific colleague David Goodall, whose family he sometimes accompanied on their annual holidays.