Royal Society of NSW News & Events

"The frontier of measurement: leading-edge standards for length and time" Dr Bruce Warrington, Head, Time and Frequency Group, National Measurement Institute, Lindfield, Sydney Wednesday 6 September 2006, 6.30 for 7 pm Conference Room 1, Darlington Centre, City Road ABSTRACT Metrology, the science of measurement, is a dynamic field of research. Adv...

"The overshadowed centenary - the discovery of the pinch effect in 1905" A/Prof. Brian James, School of Physics, Sydney University. Wednesday 2 August 2006, 6.30 for 7 pm Conference Room 1, Darlington Centre, City Road ABSTRACT Attempts to harness the enormous nuclear energy available from fusing hydrogen into helium have gone on for half a century...

Asian honey bees: biology, conservation and human interactions A/Prof. Ben Oldroyd, School of Biological Sciences, Sydney University. Wednesday 5 July 2006, 6.30 for 7 pm Conference Room 1, Darlington Centre, City Road ABSTRACT The familiar European hive bee, Apis mellifera, has long dominated honey bee research. But in the last 15 years, teams in ...

"Global evolution of ocean basins" A/Professor Dietmar Müller Geosciences, University of Sydney Wednesday 7 June 2006, 6.30 for 7 pm Conference Room 1, Darlington Centre, City Road ABSTRACT The large-scale patterns of mantle convection are mainly dependent on the history of subduction. Hence some of the primary constraints on subduction models are ...

"The genetics behind our drinking water turning toxic" Professor Brett Neilan, School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of NSW Wednesday 3 May 2006, 6.30 for 7 pm Conference Room 1, Darlington Centre, City Road BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES Professor Brett Neilan was a member of the team who won the Royal Societies of Australia 2004 Eurek...

"Cold fusion, the alchemist's dream?" Annual General Meeting & Presidential Address by Professor Jak Kelly, President of the Society Wednesday 5 April 2006, 6.30 for 7 pm Conference Room 1, Darlington Centre, City Road ABSTRACT A brief history of cold fusion and where it fits into conventional physics will be given, leading up to the most recen...

"Can the physicists' description of reality be considered complete?" Nobel Laureate Professor Brian Josephson, Cambridge University Friday 17 March 2006, 6.30 pm Eastern Avenue Auditorium, Sydney University The Pollock Lecture is jointly organised about every three years by the Royal Society of NSW and the University of Sydney. It is given in memor...

"A cradle-to-grave concept for Australia's uranium" The February meeting of the Royal Society of NSW was the annual meeting of the four Societies: The Royal Society of New South Wales, The Australian Institute of Energy, Australian Nuclear Association and Engineers Australia (NUC Engineering Panel). Speaker: Dr Clarence Hardy, Secretary ANA, Vice-P...

"The quickening: beginning of animal life on Earth" Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich, Monash University Wednesday 7 September 2005, 6 pm for 6.30 Conference Room 1, Darlington Centre, University of Sydney ABSTRACT Four places in the world have yielded a most spectacular record of animal life prior to the time when shells and skeletons appeared - all...

Thursday, 27 February 2014"Questions of power in NSW"Professor Mary O'Kane, NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer At the annual Four Societies Lecture, Professor Mary O'Kane considered the major questions that face NSW in the future of energy production and utilisation. Asking the right questions is key – it reduces the time taken to identify the best s...

"Australia's most spectacular environmental rehabilitation project: Phillip Island, Pacific Ocean"Dr Peter CoynDate: Wednesday, 1 October 2014 Perched atop a submerged seamount, in turn atop a submarine ridge, Phillip Island and its close neighbour Norfolk Island are tiny specks, the only land in a vast expanse (2.5 million square kilometres) ...

"A drop of optics"Dr Steve Lee and Dr Tri Phan, joint winners of the 2014 ANSTO Eureka Prize for Innovative Use of TechnologyDate: Wednesday 5 November 2014 The talk at the 1227th AGM was presented by Dr Steve Lee and Dr Tri Phan, joint winners of the 2014 ANSTO Eureka Prize for Innovative Use of Technology. They received the award for develop...

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

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

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 201...

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

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.

2014 Jak Kelly Award presentation, followed by the Society’s Christmas Party Wednesday 3 December 2014 Union, University & Schools Club, 25 Bent St, Sydney The 2014 Royal Society of NSW Jak Kelly Award was presented to Ms Linh Tran of the School of Physics at University of Wollongong (here seen at the AIP Awards Day on 18 November), for her wor...

"The real significance of hobbits: hominid biogeography in South East Asia" Professor Michael J. Morwood, Professor in Archaeology, School of Earth and Environmental Studies, University of Wollongong Wednesday 4 November 2009 at 7 pm Conference Room 1, Darlington Centre, University of Sydney In 2004 Professor Mike Morwood led the team that found th...