NEWSLETTER AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE July–September 1997 Number 37 In a submission to the Senate Inquiry into Commonwealth Environment Powers, the Academy of Science has argued that there is little apparent consistency and logic attached to the way the system is structured. The Senate Environment, Recreation, Communications and the Arts References Committee is examining, among other things, the most appropriate balance of powers and responsibilities between Commonwealth, state and local governments. While the Academy recognised that the Australian federation is a dynamic institution and that relationships change with elections, the Commonwealth’s powers in environmental protection and ecologically sustainable development should be explicit. Commonwealth activity was usually triggered by the need to make an urgent decision on a development rather than systematically applying national principles. The submission, prepared by the National Committee for the Environment, suggested that different responsibilities be allocated to different tiers of government. One tier of government should have responsibility for the final decision. Where two levels of government had to be involved, a process for avoiding duplication of decision-making should be agreed. The National Environment Protection Council, a council of governments, could help gain national agreement, national standards and protocols. The Interim Biogeographical Regionalisation of Australia (a set of data on 80 land regions and a smaller number of marine environments) and the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Environment could also help clarify the role of the Commonwealth. The submission argued that terms such as national interest and national significance needed to be clearly defined. The listings on the Register of the National Estate should be reassessed against these definitions. ‘It is felt that many listings are not truly of national significance, whereas some areas of national significance are not listed,’ the submission stated. Environmental impact assessments were almost always inadequate because of the lack of a requirement to assess the cumulative impacts of a number of developments and because there was little assessment of projects in operation. Meaningful and comprehensive Commonwealth environment powers inconsistent monitoring of a project required sufficient time. The submission stated that the Commonwealth Government should lead by example in its own operations and assist and reward the best performance by others. Also, the Commonwealth should replace its Expenditure Review Committee with a Sustainable Development Review Committee, so that economic decisions were assessed for ecological sustainability. Zinkernagel signs Charter Book The Nobel Laureate and Corresponding Member of the Academy, Professor Rolf Zinkernagel, pictured second from left, signed the Academy’s Charter Book on 17 June 1997. Professor Zinkernagel was visiting Australia from Switzerland. He is pictured with his former colleagues from the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University, Professor Frank Fenner, left, Professor Bob Blanden and Professor Gordon Ada.
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NEWSLETTERAUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE
July–September 1997 Number 37
In a submission to the Senate Inquiryinto Commonwealth EnvironmentPowers, the Academy of Science hasargued that there is little apparentconsistency and logic attached to theway the system is structured. The SenateEnvironment, Recreation,Communications and the ArtsReferences Committee is examining,among other things, the mostappropriate balance of powers andresponsibilities betweenCommonwealth, state and localgovernments.
While the Academy recognised thatthe Australian federation is a dynamicinstitution and that relationships changewith elections, the Commonwealth’spowers in environmental protection andecologically sustainable developmentshould be explicit. Commonwealthactivity was usually triggered by theneed to make an urgent decision on adevelopment rather than systematicallyapplying national principles.
The submission, prepared by theNational Committee for theEnvironment, suggested that differentresponsibilities be allocated to differenttiers of government. One tier ofgovernment should have responsibilityfor the final decision. Where two levelsof government had to be involved, aprocess for avoiding duplication ofdecision-making should be agreed.
The National Environment ProtectionCouncil, a council of governments, couldhelp gain national agreement, nationalstandards and protocols. The InterimBiogeographical Regionalisation ofAustralia (a set of data on 80 landregions and a smaller number of marineenvironments) and theIntergovernmental Agreement on theEnvironment could also help clarify therole of the Commonwealth.
The submission argued that termssuch as national interest and nationalsignificance needed to be clearly defined.
The listings on the Register of theNational Estate should be reassessedagainst these definitions. ‘It is felt thatmany listings are not truly of nationalsignificance, whereas some areas ofnational significance are not listed,’ thesubmission stated.
Environmental impact assessmentswere almost always inadequate becauseof the lack of a requirement to assess thecumulative impacts of a number ofdevelopments and because there waslittle assessment of projects in operation.Meaningful and comprehensive
Commonwealth environmentpowers inconsistent
monitoring of a project requiredsufficient time.
The submission stated that theCommonwealth Government shouldlead by example in its own operationsand assist and reward the bestperformance by others. Also, theCommonwealth should replace itsExpenditure Review Committee with aSustainable Development ReviewCommittee, so that economic decisionswere assessed for ecologicalsustainability.
Zinkernagel signs Charter BookThe Nobel Laureate and Corresponding Member of the Academy, Professor RolfZinkernagel, pictured second from left, signed the Academy’s Charter Book on17 June 1997. Professor Zinkernagel was visiting Australia from Switzerland. He ispictured with his former colleagues from the John Curtin School of MedicalResearch at the Australian National University, Professor Frank Fenner, left,Professor Bob Blanden and Professor Gordon Ada.
Australian Academy of Science Newsletter
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Office-bearers ofthe AcademyPresident
Professor Sir Gustav Nossal
Secretary (Physical Sciences)Professor Kurt Lambeck
Secretary (Biological Sciences)Professor James Pittard
Published by the AustralianAcademy of Science, GPO Box783, Canberra ACT 2601.
Honorary editor: Professor NevilleFletcher FAA; production byGreen Words, Canberra. Otherassistance: members of Academycommittees and Academy staff.
Printed by Inprint, Brisbane.
The material in this newsletter iscopyright but may be reproducedwith acknowledgment. To receivea regular copy of the newsletter, tocontribute an item of interest, or torespond to material in thenewsletter, write to the ExecutiveSecretary at the Academy.
ISSN 1031-9204
Print Post Approved PP 255003/00025
The Academy of Science welcomed thereport, Priority Matters, issued by theChief Scientist, Professor John Stocker,in June, because it points to theimportance of science and technologyfor the future prosperity of thiscountry.
In a news statement the Academy’sScience Policy Secretary, Professor JohnWhite, said, ‘Australia must either usetechnological innovation to create newindustries or accept lower livingstandards as other economies moveahead of us.’
The Academy welcomed theemphasis on diversity of advicestructures in the report. At the highestlevel, the Prime Minister’s Science andEngineering Council, the AustralianScience and Technology Council(ASTEC) and the CoordinationCommittee on Science and Technologywould be brought together under theChief Scientist; a Cabinet committee isproposed for science and technology.The Academy recommended that thisbe a separate committee of Cabinetwith the Minister for Science andTechnology as a member.
Diversity in departmental scienceand technology advisory structureswould also be retained, as would theseparate missions of the governmentresearch agencies, CSIRO, theAustralian Nuclear Science andTechnology Organisation and theAustralian Institute of Marine Science.
The Academy welcomed the praisegiven to the Cooperative ResearchCentre scheme and endorsed ProfessorStocker’s emphasis on the ‘legitimateplace for public good centres such asthe Antarctic Research CooperativeResearch Centre’.
The report points out ways toimprove Australia’s priority setting forscience and technology. It clearly statesthe need to identify goals for scienceand technology and to formulate anexplicit industry policy.
Professor White said that newpolicy-development structures basedon Professor Stocker’s proposals wereneeded urgently. These structuresoffered the opportunity for theAcademies, the Institution of Engineersand the Federation of AustralianScientific and Technological Societies to
work on a coherent policy for scienceand industry.
The gaps recognised in the reportcould be seen as opportunities forpolicy development. Some examplesare:
• Higher education policy. The seriousneed for concentrations of majorresearch infrastructure is addressedand referred, with other concerns, tothe West Committee’s review ofhigher education. Professor Whitesaid, ‘The Academy believes that itis vital for the West Committee totake notice of this importantanalysis. The resolution of theseproblems is of the greatestimportance for basic science’scontribution to Australia’s future.’
• Environment and sustainabledevelopment. The economic andpolitical necessity of a policy forsustainability in Australia isunderlined and is the basis of amajor recommendation.
• Marine science. Australia has takenon new responsibilities in this area.The Academy welcomed theemphasis on a need for muchunderlying research, as well as carein the collection and use of data.Professor Stocker recognised thatresearch must not be limited tosubjects with economic pay-offs, andresearch resources should not be cutbecause of efficiency gains.
• International science and technologylinks. The Academy welcomed thestrong points made under thisheading. Firstly, Australia does nothave a monopoly of ideas. Therecent work of Bourke and Butler,and the Academy’s analysis of thedecline in the impact of Australianscience publications, point to theneed for strong international linksand collaboration betweenresearchers.Secondly, the Stocker reportemphasises the need forcoordination of Australia’s access tomajor international facilities. TheAcademy supported theexamination of existingarrangements being undertaken bythe Coordination Committee onScience and Technology.
Stocker reportwelcomed
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In 1995 the Prime Minister’s Scienceand Engineering Council produced areport on science and technology formanaging Australia’s ocean territory.Since then, the Marine Science andTechnology Working Group of theCommonwealth Department ofIndustry, Science and Tourism hasproduced a document entitled, Theproposed scope of Australia’s marinescience and technology plan.
The Academy of Science and theAcademy of Technological Sciencesand Engineering have made a jointsubmission on the proposed plan. TheAcademies state that marine scienceand technology are a diverse but smallpart of the national effort, historicallyunderdeveloped. They say the marinescience plan needs to show howobstacles will be overcome so thatmarine science contributes to theachievement of policy goals, especiallythose of the oceans policy that is beingprepared at the same time.
The Academies’ submissionaddresses a number of issues:• major work programs. This proposal
would facilitate the recognition ofopportunities and gaps acrossorganisations.
• international links. As a smallplayer, Australia has more to gain
Marine science plan Support forGeminitelescopeThe President of the Academy, SirGustav Nossal, has written to theMinister for Employment, Education,Training and Youth Affairs, SenatorAmanda Vanstone, to indicate theAcademy’s strong support for theproposal for Australia to join theInternational Gemini Project.
The project has been established byan international consortium whichplans to build two eight-metretelescopes, one in Hawaii and the otherin Chile.
Sir Gustav pointed out that forAustralia to maintain its leadingposition in astronomy, Australianastronomers need access to world-classtelescopes. The international projectoffered the chance to share capital andrunning costs. He said the opportunitywas good value for money.
Astronomy todayThe Academy’s National Committee forAstronomy has produced a colourfuland readable booklet, Astronomytoday, describing the activities ofAustralian astronomers and howastronomy connects with other fields ofscience and technology. The booklet isillustrated with photographs of stars,galaxies and telescopes. Copies areavailable by [email protected] photograph, by David Malin at theAnglo-Australian Observatory, shows thespiral galaxy NGC 1365.
The National Academies’ Forum andthe Higher Education Council held aseminar on the undergraduate curricu-lum in Canberra on 6 and 7 July 1997.
Participants came from the sciences,engineering, technology, thehumanities and the social sciences.Professor Bruce McKellar, Dean of theFaculty of Science at the University ofMelbourne, represented the Academyof Science at the seminar.
The discussion was wide-rangingand no conclusions were reached but anumber of unifying themes emerged:
• the lack of a systematic approach tocurriculum development andevaluation in the higher educationsystem
• the extent to which the differentcourses offered in higher educationinstitutions have, or have not,adapted to the dramaticallyincreased proportion of the
Forum on uni curriculum
from joining international researchprograms than from going alone.
• coordination, advisory andevaluation mechanisms. States anduniversities must be embraced, theAcademies could also be useful.
• infrastructure. The adequatedescription of Australia’s largeocean territory will require a fleet ofvessels with a range of capabilities.
• management of marine data. Datashould have a unified nationalframework, wide accessibility andcompatibility with internationalsources of data.
• funding. The plan should propose abroad-based scheme for marinescience and technology grants,crossing over disciplines andcovering real infrastructure costs.
• skills. The narrow structure ofacademic training will need to bebroadened.
• international markets. Othercountries have national strategies toaggressively market expertisearound the world; Australia shouldnot be too complacent.
• promotion. The public andgovernments will need to see acloser connection between hardscience and real applications.
population undertaking highereducation
• the need for an emphasis onlearning rather than teaching and, inparticular, the adoption of aproblem-based or a contextualapproach to the curriculum. Thishighlights the integration and use ofknowledge rather than itscompartmentalisation intodisciplines.
Professor McKellar reported, ‘It wasgenerally regarded that the diversity ofthe group gave a useful depth to thediscussion and that similar meetingsshould be held in the future.’
The National Academies’ Forum ismade up of the Australian Academy ofScience, the Australian Academy of theHumanities, the Academy of the SocialSciences in Australia and theAustralian Academy of TechnologicalSciences and Engineering.
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Following the Federal Budget on13 May 1997, the Academy of Sciencechallenged the Federal Government tobuild next year on the steady-state 1997Budget.
The Academy’s science policyspokesman, Professor John White, said,
‘The government, through itsscience and technology budget, hascreated anticipation of the positivechanges that might flow from thereviews that it has begun. The positivequalities of the present budget arewelcomed by the Academy but there isa sense that we are in a holdingpattern. Whilst this is a relief to some,imaginative incentives for education,science and technology are awaited inthe 1998 budget.’
Starting from the measures in the1997 Budget, he said that the Academywould welcome developments:• in higher education policy, such as a
matching contribution by thegovernment in the later years of thisdecade for the enormous privateinvestment that will flow in fromthe Higher Education ContributionScheme, overseas and local studentfees, and other sources. This wouldfacilitate the expected diversificationof tertiary institutions and correctthe very negative signals implied inthe present forward estimates whichshow a continued decline.Additional support to the AustralianResearch Council and the NationalHealth and Medical ResearchCouncil was applauded, butresearch support and infrastructurefunds are urgently needed.
• in industry policy, such asstrengthening the factor (f) andrelated schemes to encourageAustralian industry to drawgraduates from our excellenteducation system into productivecontributions to the economy.Professor White said the Academyawaited the detailed figures on thereplacement for the factor (f)scheme.
• in the Cooperative Research Centreprogram, to give long-term hope tothose interested in the exploitationof Australian basic scientific ideas.The Academy expressed concernthat the foreshadowed review of
Cooperative Research Centresshould not be solely directed to howmuch money can be harvested fromthem in the short term. Otheraspects of the long-term public goodof bringing closer cooperationbetween universities, governmentagencies and industry shouldreceive due weight and be explicit inthe terms of reference.
• in business, leading to a vigorousapplication of the newly createdsmall business development fund.
The Academy welcomed theestablishment of the Federation Fundas an inspiring idea which should notonly contribute to the general good (asthrough the Australian Museum) butshould also open the way for majorinitiatives in scientific infrastructureand national development.
Professor White also noted thatthere appeared to be a number ofnegative indications, such as those inthe forward look at the health researchbudget. The changes between previousyears, current allocations and forwardestimates need to be clarified.
Challenge for1998 Budget
The rewardsand risks ofresearchIn June 1997, CSIRO released a surveyof public interest in science, showingthat Australians have a strong interestin science.
The Academy’s Science PolicySecretary, Professor John White, saidthat the comparison with publicinterest in sport was favourable,showing that people see the potentialfor future miracles and regard sciencehighly, particularly in the medical field.‘On the other side, there was concernfor the possibility of unintendedconsequences that might flow from theresearch,’ he said.
‘The Academy of Science shares thepositive expectations and would wishto play its part in meeting the concernsby promoting informed discussion andpresenting policy options.’
In 1974, when scientists’ ability tomanipulate genes was very limited, theAcademy established a committee toexplore the risks and to bring them tothe attention of governments. Thecommittee worked with colleaguesoverseas and consulted widely inAustralia before recommending thatthe Federal Government shouldestablish an official committee tomonitor DNA work. This later becamethe Genetic Manipulation AdvisoryCommittee, through which theCommonwealth oversees geneticresearch. Australia now has a leadingposition in genetic research and majorinvestments are being made in it.
Professor White said that recentdevelopments in the technology ofcloning whole animals opened upmany scientific and commercialopportunities but also a fresh round ofconcerns about the use of this technol-ogy. The Academy is gathering adviceon the scientific basis, the technologyand, to some extent, the ethical ques-tions raised by these methods.
‘There is no simple way of arrivingat a balance between the risks andrewards of research such as this,’ saidProfessor White. ‘To do so requireshard work and the involvement ofmany different kinds of experts so thatthe public may have confidence in theway research and the exploitation ofresearch are regulated. The Academy iswilling to play its part in achieving thisnecessary goal.’
Taxing PhDscholarshipsThe Academy of Science has urged theFederal Government to amendlegislation imposing tax on PhDscholarships. The Bill is currentlybefore Parliament.
The Secretary, Science Policy,Professor John White, has written tothe Treasurer, Mr Peter Costello,warning that taxing postgraduatescholarships would strike a damagingblow to the fragile process of recruitingstudents into research. Given thatuniversities are already trying to adaptto 1996 Budget cuts and unfundedsalary increases, the new tax wouldcause dismay in the whole scientificcommunity.
‘The psychological effect at thismoment on the scientific community,including the students, would be out ofall proportion to the funds recouped bythe government,’ Professor Whitewrote.
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where the rest of the teachers havealready been trained.
To overcome these problems, aPrimary Investigations do-it-yourselfinservice workshop has beendeveloped with funding from theScience and Technology AwarenessProgram of the CommonwealthDepartment of Industry, Science andTourism. The workshop consists of avideotape and booklet with masters foroverhead projection. The workshopcovers the instructional model,cooperative learning, classroomorganisation, equipment andassessment.
The booklet enables any teacher toact as facilitator. It gives step-by-stepinstructions on leading discussions,running a hands-on activity andarranging peer teaching. The videoallows teachers to ‘visit’ schools, viewchildren as they work and hear aboutclassroom organisation and assessmentfrom teachers who have used PrimaryInvestigations successfully.
The workshop is available from theAcademy for $24.95 until 30 September,then $29.95. Email [email protected] telephone toll-free 1800 67 3383.
Supported by the AustralianFoundation for Science
Lower secondaryschool scienceThe Academy is exploring practicalways of improving science education atthe lower secondary school level. Thefirst step has been a review of researchliterature conducted by Dr RichardGunstone, from the Centre for Science,Mathematics and TechnologyEducation at Monash University inMelbourne.
Now three state educationdepartments are undertaking small-scale qualitative studies, eachinvolving about 12 teachers. Thedepartments – New South Wales,Queensland and Western Australia –are each paired with a scienceeducation faculty – the University ofWestern Sydney, QueenslandUniversity of Technology and EdithCowan University, respectively.
The project is supported by a grantfrom the Australian Research Council.
Supported by the AustralianFoundation for Science
The Victorian Board of Studies haswelcomed the Academy’s PrimaryInvestigations program for primaryschools. The Chief Executive Officer ofthe Board, Professor Sam Ball, said, ‘Itis a high quality resource whichschools may consider as they plan toimplement the Science Key LearningArea of the CSF (Curriculum andStandards Framework). It is theBoard’s view that PrimaryInvestigations, used in conjunction withother resources, provides extremelyworthwhile material for theimplementation of the sciencecomponent of the CSF.’
The Academy has prepared asupplement to Primary Investigations tohelp Victorian teachers who are usingthe program. The supplement showshow to meet all of the outcomes forlevels 1 to 4 of the Science CSF,suggesting additional activities andhow they can be integrated into theprogram. It is available free from theAcademy, email [email protected].
The Academy has had numerousrequests from rural and isolatedschools for Primary Investigationstraining, but sending a trainer from ametropolitan area is often not feasible.There have also been requests fortraining for new teachers in schools
Primary endorsementFoundationmembershipThe Academy of Science has receivedpledges of $3 681 104, withcontributors recognised throughmembership of the AustralianFoundation for Science. To date,$2 621 604 has been received. TheFoundation has 259 supporters,comprising 144 Fellows, 24 otherindividuals, 24 scientific societies,20 corporations, 10 trade associationsand 37 other institutions. Membershiplevels show 4 Patrons, 13 Governors,17 Trustees, 73 Members, 132 Donors,16 Sponsors and 4 Friends.
The Foundation welcomes thefollowing new supporters:
Mr James Chan, Dr Richard Cotton,Dr Bill Denholm and Mrs P Denholm,Dr Pavel Grossman and Mrs AGrossman, Mrs Barbara Hardy, andProfessor Robert Leckey and Mrs MLeckey.
Luke Mouatt, left, Aaron Densig and Lucas Morgan of Wallerawang Public School inNew South Wales conduct a survey of the schoolyard ecosystem as part of PrimaryInvestigations. Photo by Bev Wren.
Australian Academy of Science Newsletter
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At its Annual General Meeting in May,the Academy elected 13 new Fellows,bringing the Fellowship to just over300. Election to the Fellowshiprecognises a career that hassignificantly advanced the world’sstore of scientific knowledge. Specialelection recognises conspicuous serviceto the cause of science. The newFellows are listed below.
1. Dr Robin Bedding, Chief ResearchScientist in the CSIRO Division ofEntomology, Canberra
Dr Bedding, 56, has led the world inobtaining new information on thetaxonomy, biology, physiology andecology of nematodes (round worms).This knowledge has enabled him to usenematodes to control insect pests inAustralia and overseas. His research ona parasite of the sirex wasp is estimatedto have saved Australia’s pine forestsfrom damage worth between$1000 million and $4000 million in eachrotation. His research and patents haveled to the establishment of a newexport industry.
2. Professor Ian Dance, Professor ofInorganic Chemistry at the Universityof New South Wales
Professor Dance, 57, isinternationally recognised as one of theleading investigators of compounds inwhich a metal is combined withsulphur, selenium or tellurium (thechalcogen elements). In this importantand growing area of chemistry he hasnot only developed essential syntheticstrategies but has synthesised andcharacterised over half the knowncategories of compound.
3. Professor George Dracoulis, Headof the Department of Nuclear Physicsat the Australian National University
Professor Dracoulis, 52, has madeimportant contributions to thespectroscopy of very neutron-deficientnuclei and to the understanding ofunusual nuclear states, particularlythrough the study of the interplaybetween single-particle and collectivedegrees of freedom. His group isamong the world leaders in the field.
4. Professor Graham Goodwin, Deanof the Faculty of Engineering at theUniversity of Newcastle
Professor Goodwin, 51, has had amajor international impact on systems
science and dynamical systems. Ofparticular significance is his capacity tolink theoretical research withengineering applications. He madepioneering contributions to theconvergence of adaptive controllersand to numerical issues in digitalfiltering and control.
5. Dr Adrienne Hardham, SeniorFellow in the Plant Cell Biology Groupat the Australian National University
Dr Hardham, 43, is distinguished forher studies of the cytoskeletal basis ofplant morphogenesis and host-pathogen interactions, focusing onproperties of cell surface components.Her innovative cytological,immunological and molecularresearches on the agents of infection ofthe dieback fungus have yieldedsignificant new knowledge of infectionprocesses used by this destructive plantpathogen.
6. Professor Philip Kuchel, Professorof Biochemistry at the University ofSydney
Professor Kuchel, 50, is one ofAustralia’s leading theoretical andphysical biochemists. He isdistinguished for his work on theapplication of nuclear magneticresonance spectroscopy to biologicalsystems, particularly the human redblood cell. He has applied thetechnique to study membranetransport, the physical environmentinside cells and the modelling ofmetabolic pathways. He discovered thesplit peak phenomenon which he usedto obtain information on the kinetics ofrapid transmembrane exchangeprocesses in whole cells and in otherstudies.
7. Dr Trevor McDougall, ChiefResearch Scientist in the CSIRODivision of Oceanography, Hobart
Dr McDougall, 44, is the foremostworld authority on many aspects ofoceanic mixing. He has discovered fournew oceanic mixing processes and haspioneered the concept of neutralsurfaces along which strong lateralmixing occurs. Through his otherdiscoveries, there has been a dramaticimprovement in the ability of oceanmodels to simulate today’s climate.
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8. Dr Brendan McKay, Reader inComputer Science at the AustralianNational University
Dr McKay, 45, spans computerscience and mathematics: he is a leaderin the application of combinatorialmethods to computer science and inthe application of computers tomathematical problems. He is a masterof the art of the computer generationand enumeration of combinatorialobjects.
9. Professor Elspeth McLachlan,Senior Principal Research Fellow at thePrince of Wales Medical ResearchInstitute in Sydney (pictured withpostdoctoral research officer, Dr MartinStebbing)
Professor McLachlan, 54, is a worldauthority on neural pathways withinthe autonomic nervous system. Herwork has ranged from detailedanalyses of transmission in autonomicganglia to studies of the organisation ofautonomic nervous pathways and theirdisorder in pathological states.
10. Professor Marilyn Renfree, Headof the Department of Zoology at theUniversity of Melbourne
Professor Renfree, 50, has made amajor contribution to the reproductivephysiology and sexual development ofmarsupials. She demonstrated thenutritional and endocrine functions ofthe marsupial placenta and has ledwork on the control of birth inmarsupials and on sex determinationand differentiation. Her work has alsocontributed to the generalunderstanding of these processes inother mammals.
11. Professor Colin Sullivan, Head ofthe Centre for Respiratory Failure andSleep Disorders at Royal Prince AlfredHospital in Sydney (pictured with PhDstudent, Grant Wilson)
Professor Sullivan, 51, is aninternational leader in the field ofbreathing disorders in sleep. He hascharacterised the basic physiology ofbreathing during sleep and recognisedthat arousal responses from sleep arecrucial to surviving respiratory failure.He has promoted sleep disordermedicine and established the firstdiagnostic sleep laboratory for adultsand children. He developed thetechnique of nasal continuous positiveairway pressure to treat obstructive
sleep apnoea; this treatment is nowused throughout the world.
12. Professor Grant Sutherland,Director of the Department ofCytogenetics and Molecular Genetics atthe Adelaide Children’s Hospital.
Professor Sutherland, 50, hascharacterised fragile sites on humanchromosomes. He is an activeparticipant in the international HumanGenome Project. His group hascontributed significantly to themapping of chromosome 16.
Special election13. Emeritus Professor Sir RupertMyers
In 1948 Rupert Myers gained thefirst PhD to be awarded in Australia.He was the Foundation Professor ofMetallurgy and former Vice-Chancellorof the University of New South Wales.He has served on many state andfederal government bodies includingthe Prime Minister’s Science andEngineering Council. He is a formerPresident of the Australian Academy ofTechnological Sciences andEngineering.
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Nova exploresMarsOn 4 July 1997 the US spacecraft, MarsPathfinder, landed on Mars. On thesame day, the Academy of Scienceadded the topic ‘Life on Mars’ to itsNova: Science in the news World WideWeb site (http://www.science.org.au/nova/).
Nova provides accurate and up-to-date information about scientific,health and environmental issues in thenews. It is used by teachers, studentsand others interested in background tothe latest research.
The Mars topic summarises theevidence for and against the existenceof life on Mars and describesconditions on the planet, the Pathfindermission, cyanobacteria and the searchfor extraterrestrial intelligence. It alsoprovides student activities, referencesto articles in science journals and linksto other authoritative, user-friendlyWeb sites.
There are 15 topics currentlyavailable on Nova. The three addedmost recently deal with malaria, genetechnology and plants, and fibre opticsand telecommunications.
If you would like to be notified byemail when new topics are added,please register on the Nova home page.Nova is supported by the Science andTechnology Awareness Program of theCommonwealth Department ofIndustry, Science and Tourism, BHPand the Australian Foundation forScience.
Supported by the AustralianFoundation for Science
In 1998 the Academy of Science willhold a national symposium andeducation workshop on The biologicalcontrol of pest species. The Queen’s Trustfor Young Australians is providingfunding to enable a science teacherunder the age of 28 from each state andterritory to attend.
The symposium will feature topscientists from Australia and overseas,and will provide insight into currentresearch of importance to Australia’senvironment. The education workshopwill offer an introduction to teachingmaterials and strategies using Internetresources related to the topic.
Teachers will be selected compet-itively, based on their background andexperience, their interest in developingcurriculum materials, and theirwillingness to disseminate theknowledge they gain through localmeetings, discussions, articles andreports. They will be chosen inconsultation with the AustralianScience Teachers Association.
Queen’s Trust awards foryoung science teachers
The award covers travel, shareaccommodation and most meals,including the symposium dinner withFellows of the Academy.
The President of the ScienceTeachers Association of Queensland,Paul Parkinson, has previouslyattended an Academy symposium andfeels that the opportunity to hear aboutcutting-edge research and shareteaching strategies with outstandingteachers from across Australia is a mostrewarding experience.
‘Science education in Australianeeds dedicated and committedteachers who are appropriately skilled.The opportunity for young scienceteachers to attend such a gathering willindeed enrich science teaching,’ hesaid.
Application forms will be availablefrom 13 October 1997 and applicationswill close on 16 March 1998. Forapplication forms, telephone NancyPritchard on (02) 6247 5777 or email:[email protected].
Science policy in AsiaA Fellow of the Academy and formerChief Scientist, Professor MichaelPitman, will address the Third AsianScience and Technology Congress inChiang Mai in Thailand in October1997. The congress, held under theauspices of the Federation of AsianScientific Academies and Societies, willbe on the subject of science andtechnology policies in Asian countries.The Academy of Science representsAustralia in the federation.
Professor Pitman will also attend aconference on science management,technology transfer and humanresource training at Hanoi Universityof Technology in Vietnam in October.
Selby Fellow’s magic materials
Professor Colin Humphreys
The Academy’s 1997 Selby Fellowwas Professor Colin Humphreys,Goldsmiths’ Professor of MaterialsScience at the University ofCambridge. He visited Australia from24 June to 5 August 1997, giving talksin Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra,Adelaide and Perth.
Professor Humphreys is aninternationally renowned materialsscientist and popular public speaker.He is a Fellow of the Royal Academyof Engineering and Vice-Chairman of
the UK Government’s TechnologyForesight Committee on Materials.The UK Institute of Physics electedhim their 1997–98 Fellow in the PublicUnderstanding of Physics.
In Australia he spoke on a range oftopics including From artificial hips tometals with a memory: the magic ofmodern materials; Astronomy and theStar of Bethlehem; The importance ofnanostructures in metals, semiconductorsand superconductors; Gallium nitride –the amazing blue light emitter; and Newways of determining the structure andbonding in crystals.
The Selby Fellowship, endowed bythe Selby Scientific Foundation,allows distinguished overseasscientists to undertake public lectureand seminar tours and to visitscientific centres in Australia.
Professor Humphreys said, ‘Ifound the visit enormouslystimulating and enjoyable. It was agreat pleasure to speak to so manyschool pupils, the general public andother scientists. The Selby Fellowshipis an excellent idea and I wish we hadsuch a fellowship in the UK.’
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The master class on new technologiesfor the measurement of biodiversity,held at the Universiti Putra Malaysia inApril and May 1997, has successfullytransferred knowledge of genetictechniques to Malaysian and ASEANscientists.
The class was an activity of theFederation of Asian Societies andAcademies of Science (see AASNewsletter number 35). It wassupported by the Crawford Fund forInternational Agricultural Research,Environment Australia, the
Commonwealth Department ofIndustry, Science and Tourism and theAustralian Academy of Science. Theclass was coordinated by ProfessorBruce Holloway.
The master class consisted of 28lectures, 55 hours of laboratory andcomputer work, and two field trips –one to a Malaysian national park andanother to a plantation. The 15participants were mid-career scientistsfrom universities or governmentresearch bodies in Malaysia, thePhilippines, Vietnam, Nepal, China, Sri
Master class successSome of the participants in the master class on biodiversity held in Malaysia.
This year the Australian Governmenthas introduced the National HeritageTrust and the National VegetationInitiative, each of which have a strongelement of concern for the well-beingof Australia’s biodiversity.
In 1996, the international ScientificCommittee on Problems of theEnvironment (SCOPE) publishedFunctional Roles of Biodiversity – A GlobalPerspective, edited by Hal Mooney et al.(ISBN 0-471-95601-5). This publicationhas utilised available information, mostof which is observational, to elucidatethe role of biodiversity in ecosystemfunctioning and stability. Theconclusions are:• The loss of genetic variability within
a population of a species in a givenarea can reduce its flexibility toadjust to environmental change.
Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand.Participants were taught to
understand and interpret DNA-basedinformation, apply DNA data toanalyse biodiversity, assess and surveybiodiversity, use bioinformaticsmethods and create biodiversitydatabases. Participants also attendedthe Third Symposium on Trends inBiotechnology, held at the university inMay, which featured a number ofAustralian speakers.
There was also a two-day class fordecision makers – senior executivesfrom universities, governmentorganisations and industry.Participants isolated DNA, cut it withrestriction enzymes, separated thefragments by electrophoresis andcarried out a polymerase chainreaction. Representatives of theMalaysian government departmentconcerned with the impact of modernsociety on Islam sought information onthe role of biotechnology in the foodindustry.
Decision makers were impressedwith the potential for bioinformaticsdemonstrated through the AustralianNational Genomic Information Service.As a result, a node of the service hasbeen set up at Universiti PutraMalaysia with the financial support ofthe university and some commercialinterests.
Scientists who participated in themaster class have since begun researchprojects and presented courses inThailand and Sri Lanka.
SCOPE promotes diversity• Recent studies are confirming the
proposition that the capacity ofecosystems to resist changingenvironmental conditions, as well asto rebound from unusual climatic orbiotic events, is related positively tospecies numbers.
• The simplification of ecosystems inorder to produce greater yield ofindividual products comes at thecost of the loss of ecosystem stabilityand of such free services ascontrolled nutrient delivery and pestcontrol.
• Certain ecosystems, such as thosefound in arid regions and onislands, appear particularlyvulnerable to human disruptions.
• Fragmentation and disturbance ofecosystems and landscapes haveprofound effects on the services
provided, since they result inshifting the balance of the kinds ofspecies present from large, long-lived species to small, short-livedones.
• We have been more successful insimplifying than in reconstructingecosystems.
SCOPE Newsletter 51 providesexcerpts from the final chapters of thebook and can be obtained throughRachel Douglas at the Academy (email:[email protected]).
The SCOPE publication has alreadyresulted in a popular book, The work ofnature – how the diversity of life sustainsus, by Yvonne Baskin. It would bewonderful to have such a book,emphasising Australian examples.Perhaps that may emerge through theNational Heritage Trust.
Australian Academy of Science Newsletter
10
The World Intellectual PropertyOrganisation (WIPO) has proposed atreaty on the copyright of databases.Scientists fear that the proposed treatywould restrict their access to information(see AAS Newsletter number 35). TheInternational Council of Scientific Unionshas become increasingly alarmed by thepotential adverse effects of the new laws onthe conduct of science and education.
At issue is the protection of databasesthat require a substantial amount of time,effort or money to produce but that lackcreativity in the selection, arrangement orpresentation of the information. Thecreative elements of databases are alreadyprotected under copyright.
The Federal Attorney-General’s LegalPractice, supported by the Academy ofScience, held a workshop on the proposedtreaty and its implications at the Academyon 18 April 1997. Excerpts from two talksby scientists are printed below. WIPO isdue to consider the proposed treaty again inSeptember 1997.
The implications forscienceDr Angus McEwan is a Fellow of theAcademy and Senior Science Adviser to theCSIRO Division of Oceanography and theBureau of Meteorology.
A revolution is happening in the wayscience is done and the change ismaking the pursuit of many kinds ofscience very vulnerable. Traditionally,once a scientist decides on a project, theexpectation is that he or she will haveto generate the data by embarking onan experiment or observation program.There may be data in archives andlibraries, but usually in a processed orpreviously interpreted form. He or shemay also be able to draw upon acompilation of past data, an historicaldatabase. His or her results areultimately published and find theirway to libraries and users, whichinclude other researchers.
Increasingly, the data needed forscience is more than any one scientificprogram can provide. Fortunately theease with which large datasets can beaccessed and analysed or used isimproving as more data becomesavailable through electronic networks.
This has resulted over the lastdecade or two in a fundamental anddramatic paradigm shift. The projectshave become based upon access to
external datasets and data from anindividual project can be easily addedto these datasets through dedicateddata centres or compilers.
One result is that science hasbecome far more useful or applicable toreal problems, because:• it can draw upon a vastly increased
information resource
• it can be used to integrate data ofdifferent types, for example, inenvironmental studies combiningtopography dynamics and biology.
This fundamental change in howscience is done has gone largelyunremarked. Science has assumed thatthe old principles and motivations stillapply. One contributes freely one’swork to open scrutiny and access. Onehas reciprocal free rights to the work ofothers.
Ironically, as science enters anera of unprecedented usefulness,
it is threatened with beingmanacled by commerce. Theloser is the world at large.
Providing no profit is made directlyfrom someone else’s work and it is notdeteriorated by usage, then the use ofdata is fair use. This is a fundamentalprecept. Unfortunately, as databasesget bigger, they also become morevaluable. The difference between theold scientific ethos and the commercial,investment-recovery ethos of the rest ofthe world comes into sharper contrast.
Unless some special provisions areinserted in the treaty to permit theprinciples of fair use for scientificresearch and academic enquiry,scientists will be forced to play by themajority rules.
Ironically, as science enters an era ofunprecedented usefulness, it isthreatened with being manacled bycommerce. The loser is the world atlarge.
There always has been an element ofcommercialism in even basic science,and that commercialism finds one of itsfulcrums in information flow.Publishing has costs, both in pagecharges and subscriptions. There aresubscriptions payable to expensivecooperative research programs and formembership in data networks.
There are profits to be made frombeing able to recognise importance orvalue in the data itself, and to withholdor distribute the data accordingly.Satellite data and genomic data areexamples of this and without thedatabases the work could not be done.
In the case of oceanography, thebiggest ever international experiment isjust concluding its observational phasethis year. It is called the World OceanCirculation Experiment. Its purpose isto improve the numerical calculation ofglobal climate. To do this it is necessaryto understand how the ocean behaves,since it has a long thermal memory andit moves about as much heat betweenthe equator and the poles as does theatmosphere.
The World Ocean CirculationExperiment has encouraged nations ofthe world to participate in a highlycoordinated set of ocean observationsusing ships, automated instrumentsand satellites. One of the spin-offs hasbeen to demonstrate how powerful arethe altimeters on radar satellites inmapping in near real-time thetopography of the ocean surface. Thismakes it possible to estimate surfacecurrents, which in turn improves thecalculation of current through thewhole water column. To manage thedata a number of world data centreswere established and the archive isdistributed across them.
The cornerstone policy with the datais free access. Originators of the datamay withhold it for personal use fortwo years after which peer pressure isapplied for release. In this way,personal scientific aspiration isbalanced with public good.
Another example is genomicsequence data, which has enormousapplication and benefit in drugs,medical diagnosis, plant breeding,food, biological control andenvironmental remediation. Australiais both a significant user and provider.
Large databases exist in areas suchas: nuclear structure; high energyphysics; materials science; chemistry,including patent, toxic substances andcrystal structure; seismology;astronomy; geophysics; and satelliteremote sensing.
What is the reaction of the scientificcommunity to the proposed treaty?
The reaction seems to be widespreadbut ill-defined abhorrence. When
Copyright and databases
Number 37, July–September 1997
11
pressed in terms of the possible impacton their own disciplines, scientists arewell able to anticipate the effect ofdeprivation of data and theimpossibility of continuing many linesof enquiry if the costs were more thanminimal.
Price-setting for datadiscriminates against the small,
powerless or impoverishedoperator (or country).
This outcome could be self-correcting. It may not make goodcommercial sense to price certain formsof data out of the market. Yet there isan example of Landsat data where,although the price of scenes wasreduced ten-fold to accommodatecomplaints within US federal agencies,the remainder of the communityremained unable to afford the imageswhile other satellite operatorscomplained of price-cutting.
The general message of this exampleis that price-setting for datadiscriminates against the small,powerless or impoverished operator(or country). Australia is a smallcountry; we are net data importers.
It is difficult to determine the cost ofnot doing or using something (theopportunity cost) and, especially inesoteric enterprises (like research), thecost is not visible to the bean-counters.
Oceanography and many otherbranches of environmental sciencerequire large datasets and the biggestdownside of the treaty is to discouragecontribution at the start, rather thanwhat we might be asked to pay forsubsequent access to the dataset. Thisis because the treaty breaks thereciprocal relationship between thedata provider and the database owner:give freely and get back freely. Thecreator of the data will need to protecthis or her own interest, as will anyintermediate compiler of the data.Indeed intermediate datasets couldbecome fair game rather than fair use.
A feature of many of the largestdatabase networks is that they havebeen set up cooperatively by scientistsor organisations in the field, and theyare unlikely to impose provisionsunder a ownership regime that aretough enough to discourage use. Thosemost at risk are smaller datasets or
fields where cooperative arrangementshave not motivated database creation.This makes data arrangements betweencountries, especially if the data residesin centres that are under pressure to getusers to pay, very vulnerable.
So what effect has the Europeanequivalent of the treaty, the directive onthe legal protection of databases, hadon European scientists? Well, it’s earlydays but the silence has beendeafening. It must be said that thescientific community would notnormally pay much heed to the topic.
So, given that there are soundreasons for a database treaty to becreated, how would scientists preventit from doing harm to the free and everimproving access to databaseinformation.
Some critical elements seem to be:1. fair use provisions, appropriately
defined
2. concessions for public goodapplications, that is, non-depletability (the data cannot bedegraded by use) and non-discriminatory (access should notdeny benefits to some users)
3. access to public domain information(that generated on terms thatinclude requirements orassumptions that it be publiclyavailable) should not be impaired byinclusion in a database
4. default conditions (for example, freeunless otherwise specified)determining the rights of generatorsor authors of original or raw data toimpose conditions of free use uponthe maker of a database.
International cooperationin meteorologyDr John Zillman is Director of the Bureauof Meteorology and Vice-President of theAustralian Academy of TechnologicalSciences and Engineering
For more than a century the provisionof essential meteorological services hasbeen based on the free and unrestrictedexchange of basic meteorological databetween countries and between theoperational and research communities.
This tradition of internationalcooperation is built into the conventionand practices of the WorldMeteorological Organization (WMO)
which, like WIPO, is a specialisedagency of the United Nations. It isbased on the concept of meteorologicaldata as international public propertyand the understanding that everycountry will contribute what it can tothe total global pool of data inexchange for the right to draw freelyfrom that pool to fulfil its publicinterest responsibilities to its nationalcommunity.
Within this international framework,National Meteorological Services:• operate extensive national data
collection networks
• provide and exchange largevolumes of raw and processedmeteorological data
• provide a wide range of publicinterest services to the community atlarge
• support national and internationalresearch programs.Virtually all data exchange between
National Meteorological Services takesplace on a dedicated globaltelecommunications system which isjointly and cooperatively operated withno payment one way or the otherbetween services. All the data isregarded as public property and,subject only to certain understandingson proper use and courtesyacknowledgment, is provided free (thatis, at no more than the cost of copyingor otherwise making available) toanyone in the public or private sectorwho seeks it. In many countries eventhe costs of providing access arewaived when there is a significantpublic interest element in the use of thedata by the research and educationcommunities.
In Australia the nationalmeteorological databases include:• daily rainfall totals for more than
6000 locations for more than acentury
• six-hourly observations of a widenumber of meteorological variables(temperature, pressure, windspeed,cloud cover and so on) at more than500 locations over the continent andoffshore islands
• large volumes of remotely senseddata from weather radar andmeteorological satellites.
Australian Academy of Science Newsletter
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For the globe, there are somehundreds of thousands of rainfallstations and more than 10 000 surfaceobserving stations. Most of the data isheld in world data centres operatedunder the auspices of WMO or theInternational Council of ScientificUnions. This data is available toanyone who needs it.
WMO Resolution 40This cooperative approach remainedstable until about a decade ago whenseveral National MeteorologicalServices were put under pressure tocommercialise by their governmentsand found themselves having torestrict the free flow of their data sothat they could either sell it directly ordevelop commercial services based onthe data. After several years of complexand difficult negotiation under theauspices of the WMO, the 1995 WorldMeteorological Congress achievedunanimous adoption of its Resolution 40which sets out the basic principles ofdata exchange in the following terms:
As a fundamental principle of theWMO, and in consonance withthe expanding requirements forits scientific and technicalexpertise, WMO commits itself tobroadening and enhancing thefree and unrestrictedinternational exchange ofmeteorological and related dataand products.
Notwithstanding the unanimousadoption of Resolution 40, whichtemporarily headed off a threatenedinternational meteorological data warand reaffirmed the fundamentallycooperative nature of internationaloperational meteorology, the WMOdata exchange system remains fragileand under great stress. Virtually allNational Meteorological Services aredoing their best to live within the letterand the spirit of Resolution 40 butcommercialisation and governmentideological pressures in many countriesare intense.
The US operational meteorologicaland scientific communities are stronglyunited against any restriction on dataflow and the position has been widelysupported within the USadministration. The official US positionin WMO is one of vigorous oppositionto any restriction albeit the US is
attempting to honour the limitedrestriction built into Resolution 40. Theinternal tensions have beensubstantially greater in Europe but arange of mechanisms has been invokedto attempt to hold the intent ofResolution 40 together. Some tensionsexist between some national servicesand their private sectors.
WMO and the database treatyThe WMO did not become fully awareof the proposed database treaty untilmid-1996.
The WMO community see the drafttreaty as an extremely severe threat tothe future of international cooperationin meteorology. The stated primaryobjective of contracting parties to theproposed treaty – ‘to enhance andstimulate the production, distributionand international trade in databases’ – isthe antithesis of the primary objectiveof the meteorological communitywhich is to avert the development of aninternational trade in meteorologicaldatabases.
All countries, even those whoseNational Meteorological Services havebeen partially commercialised, areconvinced that the breakdown ofinternational free exchange ofmeteorological and relatedenvironmental data and itsreplacement by a commodity market indata would adversely affect theirnational interest. It would certainlyaffect Australia extremely severely. Themeteorological community, through theWMO, is thus strongly opposed to anydevelopment, such as the proposedtreaty, which would be likely to beused by ideologues withingovernments to increase pressure(already intense) on NationalMeteorological Services to restrict theirdata flow.
It is not a solution to implement thetreaty and then leave it to NationalMeteorological Services to make theirown cases to their governments forexception or dispensation at thenational level. There is ample evidencethat, once such instruments are in placeinternationally, the nationalcounterpart agencies will pushforcefully for across-the-boarddomestic application. It would beunlikely that many NationalMeteorological Services would havesufficient influence to successfully
swim against the tide. And, once a fewget caught up, this will affect thestability of the remainder.
The only satisfactory solution fromthe perspective of the WMO, short ofabandonment of the proposed treatywhich remains the preferred option,would be the incorporation of anexplicit exclusion in the treaty relatingto meteorological and relatedenvironmental databases exchangedinternationally in accordance with theprovisions of the convention andgeneral regulations of the WMO.Whether this should be built intoArticle 5 or whether there should be aseparate exclusions article (whichmight also include exclusion clausesfor other international conventionsbased on the WMO data exchangemodel as well as for general scientificresearch and teaching) is a draftingmatter. However, from the WMOperspective, it is considered essentialthat, if the treaty goes ahead, nothingless than a specific exclusion would besufficient to head off the threat whichthe proposed treaty holds forinternational cooperation inmeteorology.
Super for visitingacademicsThe Academy has expressed itsconcern to the Federal Governmentover changes to rules forsuperannuation payments. From 1 July1997 superannuation contributionsmust be preserved until retirement age.
The Secretary, Science Policy,Professor John White, has written tothe Assistant Treasurer, Senator RodKemp, pointing out that this willadversely affect academic staff visitingAustralia for short periods. He wrote,‘The principle of mobility of academicstaff is of particular importance to theeffective operation of universities andthe new preservation rules will injurethat substantially.’
Professor White suggested anexemption from the SuperannuationGuarantee Charge for temporary-visaacademics. He also supported themaking of reciprocal pensionarrangements.
Number 37, July–September 1997
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A computer scientist from the Aust-ralian National University, ProfessorRichard Brent, has been appointed tothe chair of computing science atOxford University. He will take up theappointment in March 1998.
The International Society for OpticalEngineering has presented its 1997 AEConrady Award to a physicist from theAustralian National University,Emeritus Professor Hans Buchdahl,for exceptional contributions in design,construction and testing of opticalsystems and instrumentation.
The Director of the Plant Cell BiologyResearch Centre at the University ofMelbourne and former Chair of CSIRO,Professor Adrienne Clarke, has beenappointed Lieutenant Governor ofVictoria. She is the first scientist to beappointed to the post.
The Chairman of the Centre for WaterResearch at the University of WesternAustralia, Professor Jörg Imberger, hasreceived one of five Clunies Rossnational science and technologymedals for his environmentalengineering work aimed at improvingwater quality.
The President of the Academy, SirGustav Nossal, has been elected anHonorary Member of the Mathematics-Natural Science Class of the AustrianAcademy of Sciences, has received anhonorary doctorate of science fromMcMaster University in Canada, anddelivered, on 1 July 1997, the StanhopeOration of the Australian ScienceTeachers Association.
The Institute of Physics in London hasawarded the 1997 Harrie Massey SilverMedal and Prize to the Professor ofPhysics at Griffith University,Professor David Pegg. The award isfor his 1988 discovery, with ProfessorStephen Barnett of the University ofStrathclyde in Glasgow, of a quantummechanical operator which representsthe phase of light. The operator makesit possible to understand the dualnature of light (particle and wave)within one mathematical expression.
Emeritus Professor Alan Sargeson, ofthe Australian National University, isthe 1997 winner of the Izatt-Christensen Award in MacrocyclicChemistry. Professor Sargeson willreceive his award and present a lecture
Honours to Fellows
Chinese study Australian museumsA delegation from the China Association for Science and Technology, picturedabove, visited the Academy on 13 June 1997. The association aims to popularisescience, organise academic exchanges and act as a bridge between scientists andthe government. It operates the China Science and Technology Museum which,after 10 years, needs expanding and renovating. The delegation visited Australianscience museums to discuss construction, design and operation. At the Academythey discussed, with Thérèse Lewis and Bonnie Bauld, the functions of the Academyin relation to other scientific organisations within Australia and internationally.
at the XXII International Symposiumon Macrocyclic Chemistry to be held inSeoul in August 1997.
A mathematician the University ofNew South Wales, Professor Ian Sloan,has been awarded the 1997 Australianand New Zealand Industrial andApplied Mathamatics Medal for hiscontribution to the development ofapplied mathematics in Australia. He isChair of the Academy’s NationalCommittee for Mathematics.
The Dean of the School ofMathematical Sciences at theAustralian National University,Professor Neil Trudinger, has beenelected a Fellow of the Royal Society ofLondon.
Planet RosstaylorA planet has been named after thegeochemist and planetologist from theAustralian National University, DrRoss Taylor. Minor Planet (5670)Rosstaylor, in the outer part of themain asteroid belt, has a diameter ofabout 32 kilometres. The planet wasdiscovered and named by Eugene andCarolyn Shoemaker (see page 15).
Japanese increasefunding for publicawareness ofscienceThe Japanese Government hasincreased activities to promote thepublic awareness of science, setting upa science television channel andexpanding science museums. Theyhave also increased the budget foroverseas fellowships which will allowmore Australian postdoctoral fellowsto work in Japanese institutes.
On 11 April 1997 the former FirstSecretary of the Embassy of Japan, MrMasato Nakamura, and the man whohas succeeded him in the position, MrNaoki Saito, met Academy staff, MsThérèse Lewis and Mr Peter Vallee, todiscuss exchange programs betweenAustralia and Japan.
Australian Academy of Science Newsletter
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John EcclesThe Nobel Laureate and secondPresident of the Academy, Sir JohnEccles, died in Switzerland on 2 May1997. His health had been poor forsome years.
John Carew Eccles was born inMelbourne on 27 January 1903. He waseducated at Warrnambool and Mel-bourne High Schools and gained amedical degree from the University ofMelbourne in 1925 and, with the helpof Rhodes Scholarship, a DPhil innatural sciences from Oxford in 1929.Studying under the physiologist, SirCharles Sherrington, he explored theneuromuscular transmission of spinalreflexes. He became a research fellow atExeter College, Oxford, moving toMagdalen College in 1934.
In 1937 he decided to return to whatseemed the security of Australia,becaming Director of the KanematsuMemorial Institute of Pathology atSydney Hospital. In 1977 he wrote, ‘Inretrospect I feel I should have stayed inEngland and weathered the storm, butinstead I embarked on my Odysseanjourneyings, never to return to mybeloved England.’
He stayed in Sydney until 1943, thenhe moved to the University of Otago inDunedin, where he was appointedprofessor of physiology. In spite of aheavy teaching load he developed newtechniques for recording electricalsignals from single nerve cells in thespinal cords of experimental animals.
The story of Sir John’s research is alsothe story of advancing physiologicalmethods: from antique pendulums andstring galvanometers, through cathode-ray oscilloscopes and valve amplifiersto electron microscopes, digitimers andintracellular recording.
In 1951 he was tempted back to thenew Australian National University inCanberra to be foundation professor ofphysiology in the John Curtin School ofMedical Research. He wrote, ‘Withoutdoubt it was the high point of myresearch career.’ His electrical stimulat-ing and recording units were used todiscover the electrical and chemicalmechanisms of synaptic transmissionin cats. He built a strong team ofscientists and students who for manyyears influenced the directions ofneurophysiology and neuropharmacol-ogy in Australia and overseas. Follow-ing an argument over the retiring age,he left the university in 1966.
He spent two unhappy years at theInstitute for Biomedical Research inChicago, and then went to the StateUniversity of New York in Buffalo. Hefinally retired with his books andjournals to Contra in Switzerland in1975.
In 1941 he was elected a Fellow ofthe Royal Society in London. He was aFoundation Fellow of the Academy ofScience in 1954. He was President ofthe Academy from 1957 to 1961,succeeding Sir Mark Oliphant. He wasknighted in 1958.
He shared the 1963 Nobel Prize forphysiology or medicine with ALHodgkin and AF Huxley ‘for theirdiscoveries concerning the ionicmechanisms involved in excitation andinhibition in the peripheral and centralportions’ of the nervous system. SirJohn’s research had been done at theJohn Curtin School.
He won many medals, receivedhonorary degrees and academymemberships, and delivered invitedlectures in Australia, North America,Asia and Europe. He became a Com-panion of the Order of Australia in1990.
He published 420 articles in learnedjournals and a number of importantbooks, including The NeurophysiologicalBasis of Mind (1953), The Physiology ofNerve Cells (1957), The Physiology ofSynapses (1964) and The Self and itsBrain (1976) with Sir Karl Popper,
Deaths
Jack Piddington in 1963
Jack PiddingtonDr Jack Piddington died on 16 July1997. He was a radioastronomer whospent most of his working life at CSIROin Sydney.
John Hobart Piddington was born inWagga Wagga on 6 November 1910, theson of a wool classer. He was educatedat Wagga and Sydney High Schoolsand the Universities of Sydney andCambridge, studying mathematics,engineering and radio. He was Walterand Eliza Hall Engineering Fellowfrom 1936 to 1938 and joined the CSIRRadio Physics Laboratory in 1939.
During the second world war he didradar research for the British Army,working in Malaya, Hong Kong,Burma and the British Air Ministry.The CSIR team built radar units forSydney and Darwin.
Dr Piddington’s research movedfrom the radiophysics relevant tomilitary radar, such as studies of theionosphere and radio propagation inthe troposphere, to the radioastronomyof the sun, moon and galaxy, andtheories about the phenomenaoccurring in plasmas. From hismeasurements of the radio emissions ofthe moon, he deduced its temperatureand surface structure.
John Eccles in 1951
whom he met in New Zealand in 1944.His philosophical publications on themind-brain problem generated wide-spread interest.
He is survived by his first wife,Irene, and their nine children, and hissecond wife, Helena.
Number 37, July–September 1997
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William RogersThe parasitologist, Emeritus ProfessorWilliam Rogers, died on 28 April 1997.
William Percy Rogers was born atKatanning, Western Australia, on 23November 1914. He matriculated fromPerth Modern School in 1933, havingalready developed an interest in fieldbiology and radio. With the aid of abursary he gained a science degreefrom the University of WesternAustralia in 1936 and, with anotherscholarship, a master of science inparasitology two years later.
He then went to the London Schoolof Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,gaining a PhD in 1940. His earlypublications were on parasites of cats,sheep and other grazing animals. Helooked at nematode parasites (round,unsegmented worms), particularlytheir digestive systems.
He worked at Cambridge from 1940,taking part in wartime work on
malaria, trichinosis and other parasiticdiseases of humans, and testing theeffect of possible drugs. He took up thestudy of biochemistry, one of fourstudents with 20 distinguishedlecturers. He wrote later, ‘This gave mea basis on which I was able to buildmuch of the knowledge and biologicalunderstanding I use in research andteaching.’
In 1946 he joined the research staffof CSIRO, where he used radioactivemarkers to examine the respiratorymetabolism of nematodes. In 1952 hebecame professor of zoology at theUniversity of Adelaide, then professorof parasitology from 1962.
‘The central argument of my majorresearch interest was proposed in 1957and confirmed in 1958,’ he wrote. ‘Itpostulated that the infective stage ofparasites required a stimulus or signalfrom the host which induceddevelopment of the parasitic stage.’The juvenile or egg is dormant untilsignals from the host switch on theparasite’s endocrine system, itsanaerobic system of energy productionand the transcription of DNA. Withinminutes development of the next,parasitic stage begins.
Professor Rogers moved to theWaite Agricultural Research Institute in1966, retiring from there in 1979, butcontinuing his research at theuniversity while living on his farm.
He was one of the first group electedto Fellowship of the Academy ofScience, in 1954. He was a member of
Gene ShoemakerThe US astrogeologist, Dr EugeneShoemaker, 69, died in a car accident inthe Northern Territory on 19 July 1997.His wife, Dr Carolyn Shoemaker, anastronomer, was injured in thecollision. They were in Australialooking for meteor craters.
Gene Shoemaker trained as ageologist and became an expert oninterplanetary collisions. He advisedUS space missions and jointlydiscovered the comet Shoemaker-Levy9, which crashed into Jupiter in 1994.He initiated surveys to detect asteroidslikely to cross the earth’s orbit and hasdiscovered more than 800 asteroids,one of which he recently named afterthe Australian scientist, Dr Ross Taylor.
A colleague called him ‘one of thegreat founders of planetary science’.
Dr Shoemaker has made asignificant contribution to Australianearth science, having conducted 12field expeditions which showed thatthe ancient shield areas possess a finerecord of meteorite and comet impacts.
Biographers appointedEmeritus Professor David Curtis, fromthe Australian National University, andProfessor Per Andersen, from theUniversity of Oslo, will write abiographical memoir of Sir John Ecclesfor publication in Historical records ofAustralian science and Biographicalmemoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society.
Professor Alexander Mathieson, fromLa Trobe University, and Professor SRHall, from the University of WesternAustralia, will prepare a biographicalmemoir of Dr Ted Maslen forpublication in Historical records ofAustralian science.
He joined the CSIRO Division ofRadiophysics in Sydney in 1955, laterworking in the Division of Physics andthe National Measurement Laboratory.
His later work was onhydromagnetics and the mechanism ofheating in plasmas containing neutralatoms. He applied this research to awide variety of solar and cosmicproblems such as the heating of thesun’s corona, the generation of solarflares, the emission of cosmic rays andthe generation of cosmic magneticfields.
He represented Australia at theInternational Geophysical Yearconference in Spain in 1956, and theinternational Committee on SpaceResearch (COSPAR) conference in Italyin 1964. He worked as a consultant onthe solar programs of Kitt PeakNational Observatory in the USA in1974, and was a visiting professor atother US universities.
He won the Syme Medal of theUniversity of Melbourne in 1958 andthe Sidey Medal of the Royal Society ofNew Zealand in 1959. He was electedto the Academy Fellowship in 1963.
Dr Piddington published hundredsof scientific papers and a number ofbooks, including Radio Astronomy(1961) and Cosmic Electrodynamics(1969). He is survived by his wife,Patricia, and three children.
William Rogers
the Council from 1958 to 1960 and Vice-President from 1971 to 1973.
As well as his many scientificpublications, he wrote a number ofarticles on science education inAustralian universities.
In 1956 he organised demonstrationsand public lectures against theMaralinga atomic bomb tests. Helamented that these raised littleinterest. During the 1960s and early1970s he lectured on nuclear warfare,conservation and the need to curb thegrowth of the human population.
Australian Academy of Science Newsletter
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The Academy’s Becker House,commonly known as the Dome, is aCanberra landmark. In 1956 theAcademy commissioned six designsand chose the one by Sir Roy Grounds.The building, with its copper dome,was completed in 1959. It is considereda prime example of geometricstructuralism and has won a number ofarchitectural awards.
The ACT Heritage Grants Programgave the Academy $7000 to undertakeresearch and preserve documentsrelated to Becker House. As a resultBecker House has been nominated forthe ACT Heritage Register. Acontractor, Stuart Ramshaw, preparedthe nomination.
The documentation comprisessketches, architectural drawings of thesuccessful and unsuccessful designs,blueprints, drawings of furnishingsand fittings, photographs andlandscape drawings. SusanMacDougall has sorted the 350 itemsand compiled a preliminary listorganised by topic and firm. The listhas been added to the Academy’sWorld Wide Web site (http://www.science.org.au/history.htm),together with an account of thebuilding’s construction (http://www.science.org.au/construc.htm).
The documents have been assignedto one of six categories, reflecting theirhistorical value, condition andpreservation needs. The Director of Artand Archival, Kerry McInnis, hasassessed the condition and tested thepH of samples from documents, andhas provided a schedule ofrecommended treatments with
associated costs to serve as the basis fora preservation plan. Twenty-five itemsof high historical value anddeteriorating condition have beengiven preservation treatment andindividually encapsulated.
There is still much more to do,including preserving andencapsulating documents in thecategories of high historical value,storing other documents in mylarpockets and nominating the mostimportant documents for the HeritageObjects Register.
Becker Housedocuments preserved
Kerry McInnis, above, treating a floorplan of the dome.Susan MacDougall, below, sortingdocuments relating to the design andconstruction of the dome.
The ItalianconnectionThe Scientific Attaché at the Embassy ofItaly, Professor Silvio Dottorini, right,delivers to Mr Peter Vallee, of theAcademy of Science, a copy of ascientific cooperation agreementbetween the Australian Academy andthe Italian National Academy of theLincei on 6 May 1997.
IndonesianvisitorsA group of scientists from theIndonesian National Research Councilhad dinner at the Academy on 7 May1997. The group was in Australia tostrengthen links between Indonesianand Australian research managementbodies and to discuss the role of theAcademy. A number of Australiangovernment officials also attended thedinner.
Closing dates 1997Gottschalk Medal 30 SeptemberPawsey Medal 30 SeptemberFrederick White Prize 30 SeptemberJaeger Medal 30 SeptemberFor further information, email FayeNicholas at the Academy [email protected].
Japan postdoctoral andshort-term fellowships 1 SeptemberChina exchange 1 OctoberGermany program 1 OctoberJapan exchange 1 NovemberJapan awards for foreignspecialists 1 NovemberFor further information, email ThérèseLewis on [email protected] or consulthttp://www.science.org.au/internat/.
