News Archive

MAR

Annual Dinner and Awards 2009

His Honour Justice James Allsop, President of the NSW Court of Appeal

The Society held a very successful Annual Dinner at the Forum Restaurant, Darlington Centre at the University of Sydney on 13 March. The Guest-of-Honour was His Honour Justice James Allsop, President of the NSW Court of Appeal who replaced our Chief Patron, the Governor-General at relatively short notice. The Society thanks His Honour for his attendance and for his very insightful Occasional Address, which touched on the relationship between the Society and the legal profession.

The other highlight of the evening was the presentation of our Awards for 2008. His Honour presented the Clarke Medal (this year it was for botany) to Professor Bradley Potts from the University of Tasmania and the Edgeworth David Medal for a young scientist to Dr Adam Micolich of the University of NSW. Associate Profesor Bill Sewell read the citations which were followed by very generous remarks by the recipients in accepting the Awards.

His Honour Justice James Allsop, the President John Hardie and Professor Bradley Potts

His Honour Justice James Allsop, the President John Hardie and Dr Adam Micolich

For further details see the March 2009 Bulletin No. 323.

APR

Society web site now on a virtual server

April 2005: The society has moved our web site onto a 'virtual' server in preparation for implementing a web-based library system. The plan is that eventually a catalogue of our extensive collection will be accessible to members and researchers. The library system that we will be using is Koha.

APR

Substantial addition to our web site

April 2005: Dr P.R. (Dick) Evans has scanned and converted to HTML 30 years of abstracts from 1969 to 1999. In addition to the abstracts there are 30 full-text papers reproduced - photographs and diagrams included. The latter are those that Dr Evans considers important papers. All of this is available on our web site under Publications.

JUN

June 2001 - Royal Geographical Society

The Royal Geographical Society of Queensland contacted the Society, inviting applications to participate in multi-disciplinary scientific studies in the Gulf of Carpentaria between 29 October and 4 December 2002. Projects include the disciplines of archaeology, zoology, botany, geology and geomorphology with emphasis on the Gulf.

MAY

2001 Dinner of the Australian Academy of Sciences

The President, David Craddock, and his wife, Jan, attended the annual dinner of the Australian Academy of Sciences on 3 May, held in the Members' Dining Room, Old Parliament House, on behalf of the Society. The highlight of the evening was the address by Professor Peter Doherty. The Nobel Laureate (medicine) and Australian of the Year thoroughly entertained the 285 guests with a mixture of history, the future and marketing. Professor Doherty mentioned that he had been honoured by one of two monuments to famous people at Memphis. It was of little surprise to hear that the other monument was for Elvis. One of the key points of the address was for scientists to network with other disciplines. Another important issue was the need to gain support from government and increase public interest in the sciences. The media must be better utilised as a means to increase public awareness and understanding of science. Professor Doherty stressed the importance of restricting comments to a single issue when dealing with the media. He gave examples of 'off-the-cuff' comments to reporters, which appeared in another perspective when published.

Professor Brian Anderson, President of the AAS, and Professor David Craig expressed very strong support for the Royal Society of New South Wales. They suggested the possibility of holding some combined activities between the two organizations.

JUL

New Fellows appointed 2014

On Wednesday 2 July 2014, a group of eleven Fellows were presented with their certificates. Thirty-six Fellows have been appointed since the new Rules were introduced in December 2013.

Left to right: Donald Hector (President), Bill Hogarth, Heather Goodall, Ron Johnston, Roy MacLeod, Robert Marks, John Simons, Judy Raper, Brynn Hibbert, the Hon Peter Baume AC, Thomas Maschmeyer, Des Griffin AM.

MAY

Annual awards evening and dinner 2014

On Wednesday 7 May, the annual awards evening and annual dinner was held at the Union University and Schools Club in Sydney. The dinner was extremely well attended and the address by Professor Barry Jones AC FAA FACE FAHA FASSA FTSE DistFRSN on the attack on the scientific method stimulated a lot of discussion. During the evening, the Society's 2013 awards were presented and the inaugural group of eleven Fellows were presented with their certificates.

Back row: Benjamin Eggleton, Jerome Vanclay, Richard Banati, Ian Dawes, John Gascoigne. Front row: Aibing Yu, Ian Sloan, Judith Wheeldon, Donald Hector (President), Heinrich Hora, Merlin Crossley, Trevor Hambley

The President, Dr Donald Hector, presented the Society's 2013 awards. The Edgeworth David Medal was presented to Assoc Prof David Wilson, for his outstanding work on modelling HIV/AIDS and using this information to develop treatment and prevention strategies. Prof Michelle Simmons DistFRSN was awarded the Walter Burfitt Medal and Prize and Professor Brien Holden was awarded the James Cook Medal for his work in treating myopia (a leading cause of preventable blindness), particularly in developing world countries. The Clarke Medal could not be presented to distinguished geologist William Griffin, as he was overseas and unable to attend.

Left to right: Assoc Prof David Wilson, President Dr Donald Hector, Prof Brien Holden and Prof Michelle Simmons DistFRSN.

MAY

Distinguished Fellow's Lecture 2014

The Society was proud to have Professor Barry Jones AC DistFRSN present the second annual Distinguished Fellow's Lecture at the Society's annual dinner on Wednesday 7 May 2014. Professor Jones is the only person to be a Fellow of all four of Australia's learned Academies.

Prof Barry Jones AC DistFRSN delivers the second Royal Society of NSW Distinguished Fellow's Lecture.

APR

Governor invests new Distinguished Fellow

On Wednesday 16 April, Prof Peter Doherty AC Dist FRSN was formally invested by our patron, the Governor, Prof Marie Bashir AC CVO at a ceremony at Government House. Professor Doherty was appointed a Fellow in September 2013 and a Distinguished Fellow in December 2013.

President Dr Donald Hector (left), Prof Peter Doherty after receiving his Distinguished Fellowship, the Governor and Vice President Em Prof Brynn Hibbert (right) at Government House, Sydney.

APR

Governor's Reception for Lord May of Oxford

The Society was honoured by the decision of our Patron, Professor Marie Bashir, Governor of NSW, to hold a reception at Government House, Sydney for the formal investiture of Lord May of Oxford, a distinguished Australian scientist now residing in the UK, as Fellow of the Society. This took place in the late afternoon of Friday 29 April 2011 following Lord May's delivery of the Dirac Lecture at the University of NSW that morning. The presence at the event of several leaders of the scientific community in NSW was testament to the value that is placed on excellence and achievement in science, and on the importance of the Society's Fellows.

Footage of the event can be found here: Dirac Lecture 2011 - Beauty and truth: their intersection in mathematics and science

Lord and Lady May (centre) with Her Excellency the Governor and the President following Lord May's investiture as Fellow of the Society at Government House Sydney.

DEC

NSW Government Grant

February 2006: On the 14th November last year, following representations to the NSW Government Minister for Science, Mr. Frank Sartor, Prof Peter Williams and Karina Kelly met with the Director General of the NSW Ministry for Science and Medical Research, Michael Reid and his Executive Director, Kerry Doyle. Both showed great interest in our Society, its distinguished history and its importance to New South Wales. As a result of this meeting, we are delighted to be able to inform Members that, the Ministry has agreed to help support the publication of our Journal with a $10,000 grant each year for the next three years. We are already in receipt of the grant funds for the first year and are very hopeful that this will help improve our Journal and further invigorate the Society.

All rights reserved. Copyright © The Royal Society of NSW.ABN: 76 470 896 415

All rights reserved. Copyright © The Royal Society of NSW.
ABN: 76 470 896 415