Saturday 10 November. In the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens the Royal Society of Tasmania put on a dinosaur party, the likes of which have not been seen for about sixty-five million years. The crowds came from far and wide for this Jurassic celebration.

Thanks to everyone who made this great event a great event.

Photography by David Wilson

Official Launch by the Governor of Tasmania on 6 November at TMAG

Poles Apart: Fascination, Fame and Folly, edited by Dr Anita Hansen and Dr Brita Hansen, was launched by Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner AC at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. This is the second book created as part of the 175th Anniversary celebrations of The Royal Society of Tasmania.

The publication was produced using images from The Royal Society of Tasmania’s Rare Book collection and features articles composed by 19 international, interstate and Tasmanian scientists and historians. The book investigates and enlightens the reader as to the mysteries, deprivations, endurance and achievements of the heroes who took on the challenges of Arctic and Antarctic exploration.

Poles Apart can be ordered online 

or via email to royal.society@tmag.tas.gov.au.

Dinosaur Picnic in the Botanical Gardens, Saturday 10th November 2018, 11.00am to 2.00pm.

A free event for the whole family sponsored by the Royal Society of Tasmania and the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens.

Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner AC, Governor of Tasmania, and Mr Richard Warner.

Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner AC, Governor of Tasmania, and Mr Warner generously hosted a reception for Society members on 16 October to celebrate to celebrate the 175th Anniversary of the Royal Society of Tasmania.

The Governor gave a brief history of the Society and congratulated members on their continued enthusiasm for the advancement of knowledge in Tasmania. (Governor’s remarks)

Mary Koolhof, Vice President of the Royal Society ofTasmania (left)

Royal Society Vice President, Mary Koolhof, responded to the Governor’s remarks thanking Her Excellency for her continued patronage. Mary acknowledged the importance of the Society’s relationships with a number of other Tasmanian institutions, in particular, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and the University of Tasmania. Mary also praised the Society’s recent excellent publications and gave a foretaste of the events organised for the anniversary celebrations. Particular thanks were given to Drs. Anita Hansen and Brita Hansen for lending their considerable talents and effort to create such an outstanding program of the 175 Anniversary.

The Royal Society of Tasmania Annual Doctoral (PhD) Awards

Nominations are now open for the Annual Doctoral Awards. Two such awards are offered each year. The final date for submitting nominations is 30 November 2018. Awards will be announced at the Society’s Annual General meeting in March 2019.

Nominations should be submitted by email to Royal.Society@tmag.tas.gov.au by midnight November 30 2018.  

The Royal Society of Tasmania instituted this Award to honour two young, recently graduated doctoral (PhD) academics who have made significant advances in the course of their doctoral research.

The Awards are made annually for excellence in research in any field within the purview of the Society, including science, medicine, the arts and humanities. The candidates should have been awarded their PhD within the last three years and under the age of 35 at the time of graduation.

The Awards are not restricted to Australian nationals, however, the candidate’s work/research needs to have been carried out in Tasmania or under the aegis of a Tasmanian based organization. The Awards are for work leading to significant advances based on the PhD research. Expressions of interest must include a nomination from the candidate’s supervisor or Department Manager.

Each award is for the amount of $1,000 (AUD) and the awardees are encouraged to address the Society.

Full criteria for eligibility for the Award and submission requirements are set out below or see Appendix C at the Awards and Bursaries guidelines.

Conditions:

Appendix C

The conditions of this Award are:

• The Awards shall be made no more than three years after graduation (PhD degree).

• To be awarded in any fields – sciences, medicine, arts or humanities – within the purview of the Society.

• The Awards are to be for work leading to significant advances based on the PhD research, as evidenced by published or in press peer-reviewed papers in the national/international literature.

• The works are to have been largely carried out in Tasmania or under the aegis of a Tasmanian-based organization.

• The nationality of the recipients is not to be considered in making the Award, that is, the Award is not restricted to Australian nationals.

• The recipients shall be less than 35 years of age on the day of the PhD graduation.

• The Awards are to be made available annually, but will not be awarded if there are no candidates of sufficient quality.

• Expressions of interest are to be sought widely from all relevant institutions on an annual basis and must include a nomination from the candidate’s supervisor or Department Manager.

• Each awardee will be encouraged to address the Society.

• The value of each award is $1,000 (AUD).

Submission requirements:

Applications to be submitted online as advised by the nominated due date.

All applications must include:

• A full academic curriculum vitae including the date of birth, the date of receipt of degrees (including the date of PhD graduation) and a full list of published works. The most significant works should be highlighted with an asterisk. Where the candidate’s standing relies on many co-authored papers, the candidate’s roles in those significant publications should be indicated.

• An abstract (not more than one A4 page) of the PhD study, including the thesis title.

• A letter of nomination from the candidate’s Department Manager and/or PhD supervisor. NB: Applications will not be considered without this document, which must included a statement of the new and original contribution to the field of research.

Receipt of applications must be no later than 30 November in each year. The Awards will be announced at the Society’s Annual General Meeting in Hobart in March, the following year.

Playwright Stella Kent with Director Peter Hammond

Stella Kent’s one act play, The Laughing Gas Cure, debuted at QVMAG in Inveresk on 30 September to great acclaim.

Set in the 1770s, the eccentric lead character Dr Thomas Beddoes is convinced that consumption can be cured by inhaling the breath of cows. Aided by his brilliant young assistant, Humphry Davy, he embarks on a series of experiments to prove that miraculous cures can be effected by inhaling nitrous oxide. But his friend, the foppish Joseph Banks who has recently returned from his voyage with James Cook, is less convinced. When Banks discards his dandified exterior and sets out to befriend the King and organise the establishment of Botany Bay as a penal colony, the friendship rapidly deteriorates.

The cast: Michael Edgar (Dr Beddoes), Gerard Lane (Humphry Davy), Caitlin McCarthy (Anna Beddoes) & Christopher Jackson (Joseph Banks)

In the end both men are bitterly disappointed. Beddoes must finally admit his experiments with gas have failed and nitrous oxide, ‘laughing gas’, is useful only to fuel riotous parties. Banks has poached the brilliant Davy from him, and his wife Anna runs off to London to be with Davy. Banks himself, even though he pulls the strings of Empire, is immobilised by gout, enraged that the experiment that is Australia appears to be failing, and realises that the sense of adventure and original discovery he once experienced in Tahiti are forever over.

The play traces the path of Joseph Banks from fop to gigantic president of the Royal Society, and his manoeuvring to set Humphry Davy on the path of eventually becoming President of the Society. In a harmonious marriage of science and the arts, the play examines the notion of science at a time when anecdotal evidence and natural philosophy was giving way to scientific method, the empirical method of knowledge acquisition involving careful observation, experimental testing and measurement of deductions drawn from the hypotheses.

The play is also full of humour and includes the enactment of early laughing gas experiments and tooth-pulling.

Northern President (King in the North) David Morris launching the event

Thee play reading was followed by cake to celebrate the Society’s 175th Anniversary.