Society Fellows, Ben Eggleton and Robert Park, win 2020 Eureka Prizes

The Royal Society of NSW is delighted that two of its Fellows, Professor Ben Eggleton FRSN FAA FTSE and Professor Robert Park FRSN FTSE, both from the University of Sydney, have been awarded Australian Museum Eureka Prizes for 2020.  The Council of the Society warmly congratulate both Professor Eggleton and Professor Park on their achievements, and on this recognition of the impact of their outstanding research.

Professor Park, who was the 2018 Poggendorff  Lecturer of the Royal Society of NSW, has won the 2020 Eureka Prize for Leadership in Innovation and Science.  For nearly two decades, Professor Park has led world-class efforts to develop cereal varieties with inbuilt genetic disease resistance. He is one of the few plant pathologists who has successfully translated their biological discoveries to the real world, his research having a sustained global impact on the economic viability of cereal production and food security.

Professor Eggleton leads a team from the University of Sydney and the Australian National University that has won the 2020 Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia.  By harnessing the delicate interaction between light and sound, Professor Eggleton and his team have produced a microchip that provides a unique advantage for defence platforms. With prototypes already developed in Australia and internationally, this compact technology heralds a new era in microwave signal processing and represents real gains in performance, efficiency and cost.

In addition, two of the speakers at recent Royal Society and Four Academies Forums, were recognised in the 2020 Eureka Awards.  Ceridwen Dovey, who spoke at the 2019 Forum (Making SPACE for Australia), received the 2020 Eureka Prize for Long-Form Science Journalism, while Scientia Professor Gregory Dore of UNSW, who spoke at the 2020 Forum (After COVID-19: Creating the Best of Times from the Worst of Times) was awarded the Eureka Prize for Infectious Diseases Research. 

To read further, please see the Australian Museum website, and articles in Cosmos and the Sydney Morning Herald from 25 November 2020.