The Royal Society of Tasmania

The advancement of knowledge

ABN 65 889 598 100

Butterfly Brilliance: The Lambkin-Knight Butterfly Collection

The Royal Society of Tasmania invites you to a public lecture by Trevor Lambkin, David Maynard and Simon Fearn.

Where: On your computer via Zoom
When: 1.30 pm Sunday 25th October 2020

To participate in this webinar, you must register in advance; click here to do that. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

To download a flyer for printing, click here.

A collection of around 12000 butterflies compiled by Trevor Lambkin and Ian Knight over the last 50 years has most generously been donated to QVMAG. Including many hundreds of species, some extremely rare and some that are now extinct, it is an important part of Australia’s national research infrastructure.

Hear from one of the donors, lepidopterist Trevor Lambkin about building the collection, and from QVMAG staff David Maynard (Senior Curator of Natural Sciences) and Simon Fearn (Museum Collections Officer) on its research potential and housing such a large collection.

Generously supported by  

An account of Earth’s Middle Ages – Life and Resources

You are invited to a Zoom webinar.
When: Oct 4, 2020 15:00 Hobart 
Topic: RST Webinar: An account of Earth’s Middle Ages – Life and Resources
 
Register in advance for this webinar:
 
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Abstract

Indrani’s PhD involved understanding pyrite trace element and sulphur isotope geochemistry of Proterozoic marine black shales using LA-ICP-MS and SHRIMP-SI techniques. The research focussed on nutrient-productivity cycles in past oceans and atmosphere-ocean redox state in the context of biological evolution in the Proterozoic era. Pyrite chemostratigraphy was also used for assessing mineralisation potential of black shales. This presentation will expand on the research foundations built over the course of Indrani’s PhD targeting both fundamental and applied aspects of geochemistry. The former involves advancing our knowledge of Precambrian atmosphere-ocean dynamics in shaping the course of early evolution. The latter involves utilisation of the geochemical data combined with statistical tools, for applications such as biogenicity tools, predictive modelling, and mineral exploration.

Bio

Our speaker, Dr Indrani Mukherjee is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Geochemistry at CODES, University of Tasmania. She completed her PhD in 2018 from the University of Tasmania under the supervision of Professor Ross Large. Indrani acquired her B.Sc. (Honours) and M.Sc. in Geology degrees from the University of Delhi, India. She was awarded a RST Doctoral Award in 2019.

Indrani’s main focus has been on understanding pyrite trace element and sulphur isotope geochemistry in Precambrian marine black shales. Her research ties past geochemical conditions of the atmosphere-ocean system to evolution of early complex life and secular distribution of ore deposits through time. Indrani aims to apply the pyrite LA-ICP-MS technique towards developing a deep time model for evolution of complex life and devising vectors to SEDEX Zn-Pb and sedimentary Cu mineralisation.

Chemical Answers Now: protecting us and our environment

Where: On your computer via Zoom
When: 1.30 pm Sunday 27th September 2020

To participate in this webinar, you must register in advance; click here to do that. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Professor Breadmore is pioneering the development of portable and transportable technology to provide chemical information when and where the sample is collected. Applications include the detection of home-made explosives at airports, the continuous monitoring of nutrients in our rivers, and more recently, whether we can use these to detect viruses.

After public education in northern Tasmania, our speaker graduated from University of Tasmania with BSc (Hons); PhD; DSc. He has made a continued and sustained contribution towards miniaturized analytical technology for clinical, forensic, environmental and food applications at UTAS. He was one of three finalists in the Eureka Outstanding Young Researcher Award (2011), has been listed in the Analytical Scientist’s power list of the top 100 analytical chemists in the world (2014, 2017, 2019), and is the Director of the Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science.

Generously supported by  

2020 Lecture Program

While COVID-19 pandemic restrictions apply, lectures will be online, delivered using Zoom. Lectures will be on Sunday afternoons at 3 pm (except where otherwise indicated).  We hope that you will all find this a convenient and an enlightening way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  As usual, there is something for everyone and everything of value and interest to inquiring minds of all persuasions.

Here is the calendar of speakers commencing in May. We look forward to seeing you. Your feedback is always welcome.

17 May: Dr Edward Doddridge on the oceanography of the Southern Ocean. [n.b. first Zoom online lecture; recording is available on the RST YouTube channel].

21st June: MR Banks medallist, Dr Eloise Foo. [n.b. recording is available on the RST YouTube channel]

2nd August: MR Banks medallist, Associate Professor Arko Lucieer.

6th September: Clive Lord medallist – Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick.

4th October: Doctoral award winners – Dr Indrani Mukherjee.

8th November: Post graduate afternoon (TBD).

1st December: Christmas Dinner Lecture by Dr John Williamson on Hobart’s Antarctic connection.

PLEASE CHECK REGULARLY FOR UPDATES.