Royal Society of NSW News & Events

The following letter by our President, Emeritus Professor Ian Sloan AO, was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday 4 March 2019 under the above headline (which was the main letters headline for the day). “The Royal Society of NSW, Australia’s oldest scientific and cultural organisation, applauds the recommendation of the Upper House’s Par...

Australia Day honours have been awarded to the following: Jillian Broadbent AO FRSN, elevated to AC Leonard Fisher FRSN, appointed OAM (Barney) Bevil Milton Glover FRSN, appointed AO Adrian Hibberd FRSN, appointed AM Robert Bain Thomas AM FRSN, elevated to AO If you know of any Members or Fellows we have missed, please email the Royal Society at ro...

Professor Mark Compton FRSN has been announced as the next Lord Prior of the Order of St John, also known as St John International.  The Order is devoted to the relief of sickness and injury, receiving a royal charter from Queen Victoria in 1888.  It is perhaps best known in Australia for St John Ambulance.

Emeritus Professor John Carter AM FRSN and Professor Mark Hoffman FRSN have been appointed by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment to investigate the structural integrity of the Opal Tower apartment building at Homebush.  We wish them speedy success. (Following initial investigations, Professor Stephen Foster was also engaged to assi...

The Society's awards for 2018 (Clarke Medal, Edgeworth David Medal, History & Philosophy of Science Medal, James Cook Medal, Poggendorff Lecture and RSNSW Scholarship) were announced by the President at the OGM on 5 December. Full details are available here.

Government House and group outside Anne Williamson and Phil Waite Ian Wilkinson and others in lecture President with Brian and Brynn Louise Young Virginia Judge Mary-Anne Williams lecturing

Distinguished Fellow of RSNSW, Professor Kurt Lambeck AO FRS FAA has been awarded the 2018 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science. The award, made at the Prime Minister’s Prize event at Canberra’s Parliament House on 17 October, recognises Lambeck’s 50-year contribution to Australian and global science through his geodesy research.According to the priz...

Council member Dr Chris Bertram FRSN was presented with the David Dewhurst Award at the recent Australian Biomedical Engineering Conference. The David Dewhurst Award is given annually by Engineers Australia (Australia's peak body for engineers, representing over 100,000 members) to a biomedical engineer who has made exceptional, sustained and signi...

Professor Nalini Joshi AO FRSN has been elected Vice-President of the International Mathematical Union, from the start of 2019. She becomes the first Australian to hold this position.  Besides being a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW, Professor Joshi is a member of its governing Council.

Two of our members have recently been elected as Fellows of the prestigious Royal Society of London. They are Michelle Simmons DistFRSN (who is already Australian of the Year) and Graeme Jameson FRSN from the University of Newcastle. And recently elected FRSN Veena Sahajwalla has just been elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. W...

At the 151st AGM held on 4 April 2018, Emeritus Scientia Professor Ian Sloan AO FRSN was installed as President of the Society.  As Professor Sloan was overseas and unable to attend the meeting, he addressed the audience in a video.  The text of his address is given here. If you are seeing this video, then I must have been elected as Pres...

The Society's annual RSNSW and Four Academies Forum took place on 29 November last, hosted by His Excellency the Governor of New South Wales at Government House.  The abstracts of the presentations can be accessed here.

In accordance with the Society's rules, the list of candidates is displayed here. The election took place at the annual general meeting on Wednesday 4 April 2018 at the Union University & Schools Club, 25 Bent Street, Sydney.  Polling opened at 5.30pm and closed at 6.15pm. The results of the election were as follows. Aslaksen Erik Councill...

The Council of the Society is pleased to announce that it has reached agreement with the Board of the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts (SMSA) to establish a strategic partnership. This partnership reflects the similar heritage of the two organisations and their commitment to advancing knowledge and engaging with the broadest possible audience in Ne...

Wednesday 3 February Royal Society 2014 Scholarship Presentations – the 1240th OGM and Public Lecture “Problems and prime numbers”Adrian Dudek, Australian National University “How old are flowers?” Charles Foster, University of Sydney “Manifestations of dark matter and variation of fundamental constants”Yevgeny Stadnik, UNSW Venue: Union, Universit...

Wednesday 1 February 1250th OGM and open lecture: 2015 Scholarship presentations Yik Lung (Jeremy) Chan, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney “Effects of maternal cigarette smoke exposure on brain health in offspring” Andrew Ritchie, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney “New ways of modelling the ancie...

James Cook Medal Scientia Professor David Cooper BSc(Med) MBBS(Syd) MD DSc(UNSW) FRACP FRCPA FRCP FAA FAHMS was the winner of the James Cook Medal. Located at UNSW, he is Professor of Medicine and Director, Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity in Society. Professor Cooper's research has been focused on the understanding and treatment of HIV/A...

Four Academies Forum 2016 - presentations - The Royal Society of NSW http://royalsoc.org.au/four-academies-forum-2016-presentations The slides used by the speakers at the 2016 RSNSW and Four Academies Forum, held on 29 November at Government House, are now available for download.

  “Dark matter in the universe”  The Dirac Lecture and award of the Dirac Medal  Duffield Professor Kenneth Freeman FRS  Australian National University Thursday 13 October 2016Tyree Room, John Niland Scientia Building, UNSW The Dirac Medal is based on rules established in 1990 by the then Vice Chancellor of t...