Fellows' biographical memoirs

Robert Bruce Knox was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1989 and Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in 1990, a rare honour for any one without a medical degree. He was elected President of the International Association of Sexual Plant Reproductive Research from 1990-1994. He was known internationally as an innovative plant scientist who published extensively on a wide range of topics.

Robert Gerard (Gerry) Wake had a long and distinguished academic career in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Sydney.

Robert Gordon Menzies was born on 20 December 1894 in the country town of Jeparit in the State of Victoria, Australia. By the brilliance of his intellect he won the scholarships that enabled him to qualify with distinction as a barrister, and to be called to the Victorian Bar. He abandoned the successful professional practice of the law to devote the greater part of his life to a political career, first in his own State, but later in the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia.

Robert Hanbury Brown was born on 31 August 1916 in Aruvankadu, Nilgiri Hills, South India; son of an Officer in the Indian Army, Col. Basil Hanbury Brown, and of Joyce Blaker. From the age of three Hanbury was educated in England, initially at a School in Bexhill and then from the age of eight to fourteen at the Cottesmore Preparatory School in Hove, Sussex. In 1930 he entered Tonbridge School as a Judde scholar in classics.

Bob Symons died in Adelaide on 4 October 2006 after a long illness. He was distinguished through his contributions to our knowledge of the structure, function and replication of plant viruses, viroids and virusoids. His research culminated in the discovery of the hammerhead folding of the RNA chain and its role as a ribozyme in self-cleavage of the RNA in some of these plant pathogens. He was a leader in his field and was responsible for commercial applications of his research and the establishment in Adelaide of the first Australian company to produce and market molecular biologicals for research.

Robert (Bob) Crompton was a towering figure in low energy electron and ion physics in Australia and internationally.

Ross Henry Day was an Australian experimental psychologist well known for his research on visual illusions and for his critical role in the establishment of experimental psychology in Australia.

From humble beginnings, Roy Woodall formed and led the team that became Australia’s greatest discoverer of ore deposits, including Olympic Dam, while he was recognised internationally as an icon in the mineral exploration world.

Sir Rupert Horace Myers was a materials scientist and one of the first people to be awarded a PhD from an Australian university. As a university administrator, he was a model of scientific and academic leadership.

Professor Sidney Charles Bartholomew Gascoigne AO FAA was an Aotearoa New Zealand-born astronomer whose distinguished career was carried out mostly in Australia. He is known for his work developing and commissioning the Anglo–Australian Telescope.