The Royal Society of Tasmania

The advancement of knowledge

Obituary – Professor Patrick Gerard Quilty AM  (1939-2018)

Professor Patrick Gerard Quilty AM   

Patrick Quilty had a long and distinguished career in Earth Science and Antarctic exploration. His many contributions to the Royal Society of Tasmania have been very significant and highly regarded by members and Council. In 1986 he was elected the senior vice-president of the Royal Society of Tasmania, when the Governor was president. He became president of the Society again in 2010 and was the Chair of the RST Foundation for several years besides being member of the Awards Committee. In 1996 he received The Royal Society of Tasmania Medal for his scientific achievements and service to the Society. In 2011 he convened the highly successful two-day Mawson Symposium for the Society.

Patrick obtained his BSc (Hons) from the University of Western Australia and PhD from the University of Tasmania. He spent six years in the oil industry as a palaeontologist with West Australian Petroleum (WAPET), followed by five years as a lecturer at Macquarie University. His first visit to Antarctica was in 1965/66 with the University of Wisconsin, followed by a field trip to Macquarie island in 1968, with a party that identified the island as a unique piece of uplifted oceanic crust. From 1981 to 1999 Pat was Chief Scientist for the Australian Antarctic Division and ANARE. He made a total of 14 working trips south, including three summers in the Vestfold Hills investigating fossil whales he had originally discovered in 1989, and participated in three ANARE marine science voyages.

During his period at the Australian Antarctic Division, Patrick was very active in international Antarctic leadership, serving as a vice-president of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) for four years, and chairing the organisation of the 20thmeeting of SCAR in Hobart in 1988, as well as symposia on the Vestfold Hills (1984) and Macquarie Island (1987).

Patrick Quilty has published over 200 scientific papers, including six in the last three years with several more in the final stages of submission. He became an Honorary Professor in Earth Sciences and IMAS at the University of Tasmania in 2010 and has been a Distinguished Visiting Professor at California State University. His many awards include Member of the Order of Australia (AM), U.S. Antarctica Service medal, Inaugural Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Tasmania, and the Phillip Law Medal of the ANARE Club. Two Antarctic geographic features and five fossil species have been named in his honour.

Honorary Professor Patrick Quilty was a warm hearted and generous man, who epitomised the mission of our Society (the advancement of knowledge), and devoted much of his valuable time to Society matters. He will be greatly missed by our members.

 

Congratulations Professor Ross Large

The Royal Society of Tasmania congratulates President Prof. Ross Large on the award of the Society’s most prestigious medal, the Royal Society of Tasmania Medal, for his research in the field of geology.

You can hear Ross talking about his research on ABC Radio Hobart Breakfast with Ryk Goddard.
The medal was presented by Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner, AC, Governor of Tasmania at a ceremony at Government House on Thursday 30 August 2018.
 

Booking Information for The Royal Society of Tasmania Medal Presentation and Lecture at Government House – 30 August 2018.

DEADLINE – 17 AUGUST 2018 – 6.00 PM

Booking information:

We invite you to register to attend The Royal Society of Tasmania Medal Presentation and Lecture at Government House at 6.00pm on Thursday 30 August 2018.

All attendees will need to book and print their tickets by Friday 17 August 2018.
The bookings for this event will open on Wednesday 1st August and close on Friday 17 August 2018.
There is no charge to obtain a ticket and these may be booked via the Government House website as follows:

  1. Go to http://www.govhouse.tas.gov.au and click on the ‘Events and Tours’ tab on the right-hand side of the homepage. Select ‘Reserve tickets’ for The Royal Society of Tasmania Medal Presentation & Lecture. You will be directed to the Government House Tasmania event on the http://Trybooking.com website.
  2. Enter the Invitation Code: RSMP18. This will allow you access to continue your booking via the Trybooking website.
  3. Complete the booking as per the Trybooking website instructions. Tickets should be booked in the names of the guests who wish to attend. Generic bookings, such as “Partner of Mr Bill Smith”, are NOT acceptable. In the ‘‘Capacity in which attending” box, we would be grateful if your guests would indicate the capacity in which they will be attending the reception, e.g:  Organising Committee, Board Member, Member, etc. Ticket(s) will be sent to the guest’s nominated email address.
  4. Guests will need to print their ticket(s) and ensure that they bring it/them to Government House on the evening or, alternatively, the ticket(s) can be scanned from a mobile phone.
  5. The closing date for bookings is Friday 17 August 2018 (6.00 pm).

We look forward to seeing you there.

David Wilson
Honorary Secretary

Congratulations Prof. Trevor McDougall – Fellow of AGU

Congratulations Trevor McDougall!

The Royal Society of Tasmania is proud to report that Professor Trevor McDougall, one of our members, has just been announced a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

The AGU Fellowship is an honour given to individual AGU members whose visionary leadership and scientific excellence have fundamentally advanced research in their fields.

The AGU is an international non-profit scientific association with nearly 60,000 members in 139 countries. It is dedicated to advancing the Earth and space sciences for the benefit of humanity through its scholarly publications, conferences, and outreach programs.

This year’s Fellows will be celebrated at a ceremony in December at the 2018 AGU Fall Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Royal Society Bursaries

The Royal Society of Tasmania

Honours and Bursary Committee

 

About 20 years ago Dr. Peter Smith, a long time and valued member of the Society, noticed with the then Secretary that there were Tasmanian students in science who, having represented this state at a National science event of substance, were chosen to travel overseas and represent Australia at a similar but globally oriented activity. Over the years since, the Society has supported such students when they applied to the Society, but it has been very much ad hoc and not even advertised.

Last year the Council made a decision based on a recommendation from the Honours Committee that we would formalise this option of supporting outstanding young students who represent Australia at an international summer school, or similar. We named this a “Royal Society of Tasmania Bursary” and circulated details to key teachers around the state in both government and private schools.

We received quality applications for bursaries and are delighted to report that in this 175th year of the Society, nine young people will attend global science activities in Beijing, Cape Kennedy and London. We also supported two students to attend the Junior ANZAAS* school in Melbourne. The age range of the students is around sixteen to seventeen years old. (The names of this year’s recipients are set out below.)

In following years we will continue to offer these bursaries, but the number awarded is more likely to be about three or four per year. The standard of work our young people are doing now is quite outstanding and so our members can rest assured that the Society continues to “advance knowledge” in the next generation. It is also our fervent hope that we can move into the arts, as we acknowledge that key part of learning and developing.

Dr John G. Thorne AM

Chairman of the RST Honours and Bursary Committee

 

 

Recipients of Royal Society of Tasmania bursaries for 2018.

Dominic Grose and Max Cross attended the Junior ANZAAS Science School in Melbourne.

Rose Donnelly and Fergus Ayton attended the world-wide Science Summer  Experience in London.

Raiden Lemon attended the global physics challenge in Beijing.

As a team, Alex Titchen, Koh Kawaguchi, Fergus Charles, Fabian Natoli,  James Pash and Alex Hogan-Jones participated in the NASA/ Cape Kennedy  science challenge.

All the students who traveled overseas were representing Australia  having been chosen from an earlier but similar Australia-wide event.

 

 

 

*ANZASS – The Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science is an organisation that was founded in 1888 by Archibald Liversidge as the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science to promote science.

Peter Smith Medal – Call for Nominations – Closing date: 30 September 2018

The RST Honours and Bursary Committee

 

Peter Smith Medal.

 

 

Nominations have been called for the Peter Smith Medal. This medal is awarded biennially to an outstanding early career researcher in any field. The recipient will receive a medal and deliver “The Peter Smith Lecture” to the Society.

For the purpose of the medal, “early career” is taken to mean that the time since the award of a PhD, at the award nomination deadline, is less than seven (7) years.

The conditions of the award are:

  • The works are to have been largely carried out in Tasmania or under the aegis of a Tasmanian-based organisation and within the Society’s purview; and
  • The nationality of the recipient is not to be considered in making the Award, that is, the Award is not restricted to Australian nationals.

The closing date for nominations is September 30, 2018.

Appendix F guideline for nominations is included on our web page (see below), and all nominations must be forwarded in digital form by the due date. Self-nominatiion is not allowed.

Members of the Society and other interested parties are encouraged to be pro-active in sharing this information.

Nominations should be sent to –

The Secretary – (email) royal.society@tmag.tas.gov.au

Dr John G. Thorne AM

Chairman

 

 

RST – Honours – Appendix F 

APPENDIX F

Guide for Medal Nominations of the Royal Society of Tasmania

And Suggested Pro Forms 

The following is a guide for nominating candidates for the Royal Society of Tasmania Medals:

  • M. Johnston Memorial Medal
  • The Royal Society of Tasmania Medal
  • Clive Lord Memorial Medal
  • R. Banks Medal
  • Peter Smith Medal

The first page of the nomination should list:

  • The name of the medal
  • The name of the candidate and contact address and details
  • The name of the proposer and contact address and details

No self-nominations are allowed.

A description of the candidate’s achievements relevant to the particular medal should follow. It should be no more than one page and should be written concisely and in language that is widely understood outside the candidate’s field of research. The candidate’s research or other scholarly contributions to science, history or other field of learning, industry or society should be clearly stated.

A full curriculum vitaefor the Honours Committee should be provided by the nominee to the nominator in confidence. It should include the candidate’s date of birth, the date/s of receipt of degrees and a full list of published works. The most significant publications should be highlighted (e.g. With an asterisk). Where the candidate’s standing relies on many co-authored papers, the candidate’s role in those significant publications should be indicated.

The Honours Committee of the Royal Society of Tasmania has limited ability to seek additional information and therefore depends on the nomination papers to provide a full and fair account of the candidate’s suitability, taking into account the criteria of the particular medal applied for.

All nominations should be submitted online to the Honorary Secretary of the Society by the due date.

Confidentiality is the hallmark of all the Honours Committee deliberations and will be strictly adhered to. All matters pertaining to the Society Awards (nominations, selection, deliberation by the Honours Committee and Council, and subsequent notification to recipients) are confidential until the public announcement of the Awards at the Society’s Annual General Meeting each year. This information about confidentiality must also be observed by both the nominator and nominee.

175th Anniversary Program

 

In October 2018, the Royal Society of Tasmania will be celebrating 175 years – a terquasquicentennial anniversary.

The Royal Society of Tasmania was the first Royal Society to be established outside the United Kingdom

The Society was founded in 1843 by Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, Lieutenant Governor, as the Botanical and Horticultural Society of Van Diemen’s Land. Its aim was to ‘develop the physical character of the Island and illustrate its natural history and productions’. Queen Victoria became Patron in 1844 and the name was changed to The Royal Society of Tasmania of Van Diemen’s Land for Horticulture, Botany and the Advancement of Science. Under the Act of Parliament passed in 1911, the name was shortened to The Royal Society of Tasmania.

Today, with the aim of ‘the advancement of knowledge’, the Society is flourishing and still an important part of Tasmania’s scientific and cultural community.

To celebrate this significant milestone, the Society has put together an inspiring program of events in addition to its usual lecture programs.

 

30 August 2018

Royal Society of Tasmania Medal Presentation and Lecture

Government House, Hobart

 

30 September 2018

The Laughing Gas Cure – Play Reading

Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) – Inveresk, Launceston

 

 

16 October 2018

Reception to mark the Royal Society of Tasmania’s 175th Anniversary

Government House, Hobart

 

 

6 November 2018

Poles Apart: Fascination, Fame and Folly – Book Launch

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) – Dunn Place, Hobart

 

10 November 2018

Dinosaur Picnic

Royal Botanical Gardens, Queens Domain, Hobart

 

25 November 2018

Poles Apart: Fascination, Fame and Folly – Book Launch

Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) – Inveresk, Launceston

 

Nov – Dec 2018

Poles Apart Exhibition

Morris Miller Library foyer, UTAS, Sandy Bay Campus

 

7 Dec 2018 – 5 May 2019

DINOSAUR rEVOLUTION

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Dunn Place, Hobart

 

27 January – 24 February 2019

Louisa Anne Meredith art exhibition

Lady Franklin Gallery, Ancanthe Park, Lenah Valley, Hobart

 

March 23–24 2019

 Dinosaur Symposium

Stanley Burbury Theatre – University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay Campus

 

21 March – 11 June 2019

Simpkinson De Wesselow art exhibition

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Dunn Place, Hobart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Launch – Mapping Van Diemen’s Land and the Great Beyond – July 2018

The Royal Society of Tasmania is celebrating its 175th Anniversary year, starting in October 2018. As part of the celebrations, two books are being published. The first, Mapping Van Diemen’s Land and the Great Beyond, has been published and is now available.

This exquisite volume, edited by Lynn Davies, Margaret Davies and Warren Boyles, contains over 100 high resolution images of rare and beautiful maps from the Society’s collection with text from such authoritative contributors as Matt King, Michael Giudici, John Williamson, Aidan Davison and Andrew Harwood, Peter Mercer, James Parker, Peter Marmion and Tony Fenton, and John VanderNiet.

The brief for the authors in the conception of this volume was to view the Society’s collection of maps and consider them within their historical, scientific, social and cultural contexts. This naturally led to the development of research inquiries and questions such as: how important were these maps when created? How important are they today in terms of knowledge and or specific systems such as geological or exploration maps? How historically important are these maps? What impact would these maps have had when they appeared? What did the compilers get right or wrong, and what did they not see or was not yet discovered? And, is there any general cultural context or social comment that arises as a result of these maps? The result of the exploration of these questions is a publication worthy of our 175th anniversary.

The official launch took place on Thursday, 19 July 2018, in the foyer of the Stanley Burbury Building, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay campus. The Welcome to Country was conducted by Dr. Greg Lehmann, and then the book was officially launched by Dr. Tony Sprent AM from the University of Tasmania. A number of the authors were in attendance and giving away their autographs. And some good Tasmanian wine was sloshed.

A second launch was held in Launceston on the 22ndof July at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Inveresk, Launceston.

The book has been published in both soft and hard cover format, and can be purchased online through our website here: Mapping Van Diemen’s Land

 

2016 Award winners

 The R. M. Johnston Memorial Medal for 2016

 Prof David Green FRS

Born and educated in Tasmania, David Green is internationally recognised as a leader in experimental igneous petrology. He held the Chair of Geology from 1977 to 1994 and was Director of the Research School of Earth Sciences at ANU from 1994 to 2001. Collaborating with A. E. Ringwood he brought research in the geo-sciences a major step forward by combining high-pressure and also high-temperature equipment with the electron microscope. Prof Green had insights based on new research that led to a major study (and paper) on the genesis of basaltic magmas. This alone has been cited and used for further work by others at least 1300 times.

David has been adept at selecting significant petrological observations and hypotheses and then devising experimental strategies to investigate further. The widest range of topics has flowed including – mineral assemblages of peridotites at high pressures; the reasons for compositional variability of basaltic magmas including the rôles of carbon and hydrogen; as well as the origins of and relationships among luna basalts, and the nature of the lunar interior.

Prof Green, throughout his career has built co-operative research teams applying complementary approaches to diverse problems related to the petrology and geochemistry of natural rocks. Since returning to Tasmania he has been instrumental in the establishment of institutions particularly the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies which has achieved international acclaim and influence. It is an honour for The Royal Society of Tasmania to offer acknowledgment to David Green’s scholarship with the R. M. Johnston Memorial Medal.

The Clive Lord Memorial Medal for 2016

 Prof Henry Reynolds

Henry Reynolds

 Clive Lord had a deep interest in Tasmanian history including the place of the aboriginal identity. Henry Reynolds is a fitting person to be recognised by The Royal Society of Tasmania as he has a distinguished academic and personal background that unites these subjects. Indeed Henry has frequently researched and presented history from an Aboriginal perspective. Henry was educated in Tasmania, then a teacher in schools in Australia and England. He established the Australian History program at the Townsville University College where through meticulous research he initiated a focus on frontier conflict in Australia between settlers and indigenous people. This theme is of central importance to the history of Tasmania. In numerous academic articles and books, Prof Reynolds has explained the high level of violence and conflict involved in the colonisation of Australia, and the Aboriginal resistance as evidenced in numerous massacres of the indigenous people.

Henry was on friendly terms with Eddie Mabo and related his “chats” with Eddie in his writing. Later Henry encouraged Eddie to take the matter of land ownership to court. Henry has remained dedicated to justice and human rights. He was elected as a National ‘Living Treasure’ in 1998 – one of just 100! He has written the “History of Tasmania” which brings together the main themes in the island’s history and interprets them in an engaging and accessible way. His writing explores Tasmania’s uniqueness as an island, long isolated from the mainland of Australia. He documented the first extraordinary encounters between European explorers and Tasmanian Aborigines, conveying as far as possible the Tasmanians’ views of the strangers – including how they observed the white men! His research and writing has also considered the Black War of the 1820’s and the convict system and its legacy.

Prof Reynolds is no stranger to criticism from other historians and writers but is himself meticulous in basing his work on a vast resource of evidence readily available in archives and recorded during the actual ‘frontier’ times.

In his book ‘A History of Tasmania’ Prof Reynolds reminds us how the past lives on, and how this is especially so in Tasmania. Henry Reynolds has brought forward a compelling story for all of us and is a most fitting recipient of the 2016 Clive Lord Memorial Medal of The Royal Society of Tasmania.

The Royal Society of Tasmania Annual Doctoral Awards for 2016

 In 2016 we had 26 quality nominations for these awards. Each nominee was worthy. The purpose of the awards is for the Society to offer external recognition to recent graduates who have shown genuine distinction and mature promise in their chosen field. Both awardees clearly show that strength at this stage of their career. The award winners were, in alphabetical order:

 (a) Dr Aliaa Shallan

Aliaa Shallan

Aliaa’s first significant study was the first to demonstrate control over the size of fractures formed during dielectic breakdown of plastic. Her research has focused around developing a microfluidic device for drugs in fluids. A major segment of this centres around making nanochannels in microchips by dielectric breakdown – in effect a “lab on a chip” system. An electrokinetic trap has indeed been made and is the first non-sensor system to analyse drugs in body fluids. Dr Shallan’s work is recognised widely and being applied globally.

 (b) Dr Jane Younger

Jane Younger

 Dr Younger’s research has made a significant contribution already to the field of Antarctic ecology, specifically with respect to how ice-dependent penguins and seals are likely to respond to climate change. In summary, Jane’s very practical work studied palaeological changes in populations of Antarctic ice-dependent predators and their environmental drivers. Her work also filled in gaps in scientific knowledge essential to the future of penguins and seals, for instance. The data sets produced by Jane are contributing dramatically both to the fields of ecology and evolution. In addition Dr Younger’s results, having been reported directly to the Australian Government, will contribute to this nation’s conservation and management policies for Antarctica.