Presentation by Dr Andrew Cole

Royal Society Room

Tuesday, 6th October 2009 Commencing 8.00pm until 10.00pm

 

About the Speaker

Andrew was born in Brookhaven (suburban New York) in 1972 and spent his entire childhood there. He finished a Bachelor of Science degree in physics & astronomy at Yale University in 1994, where he wrote a senior thesis on the influence of rapid rotation on the evolution of stars. From there Andrew went on to the University of Wisconsin where he got his Ph.D. in astronomy in 1999, studying how the properties of red giant stars vary in galaxies smaller than the Milky Way– with particular focus on the chemical composition of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite of the Milky Way that has about 5% of the mass of our galaxy. Afterwards Dr Cole worked on an infrared survey of the sky, and then used some of the largest telescopes in the world, the 8-metre Very Large Telescope in northern Chile, to make the first-ever measurements of the how the chemistry of dwarf galaxies like the Magellanic Clouds has changed over their lifetimes by measuring the calcium and iron abundances of stars aged between 1 and 13 billion years. In Andrews own words he “came to Tasmania in 2007 recognizing the longstanding Australian research strength in studies of the Magellanic Clouds, the chance to use the UTAS telescopes whenever and for whatever purpose I wanted, and to apply my stellar populations expertise to the statistics of searching for planets outside the Solar System.”

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

There is a long history of astrophysical research in Tasmania, undertaken by scientists exploiting our unique location to attack some of the most challenging and important problems in contemporary astronomy. In both radio and optical astronomy, Tasmanian scientists continue to lead the way in new discoveries, supported by a new generation of telescopes and instrumentation. Dr Cole will discuss some of these programmes of discovery, including the search for earthlike planets orbiting distant stars, the quest for a deeper understanding of the Sun as a star, and clues to the origins, evolution, and interrelationships of the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies. These and other projects will be greatly advanced by the arrival of a new 1.3-metre, remotely-operable optical telescope in the southern midlands at Bisdee Tier.

Presentation by Dr Des Fitzgerald

Royal Society of Tasmania Room

Tuesday, 1st September 2009 Commencing 8.00pm until 10.00pm

Mathematician

 

About the Speaker

Des FitzGerald was educated at Frenchville and Ithaca Creek primary schools, and The Gap high school, all in Queensland. After a Science degree at the University of Queensland, he completed a PhD in algebra at Monash University. He taught secondary science and mathematics in Victoria and Queensland before taking a post at the TCAE in Launceston, which morphed into his current senior lectureship at the University of Tasmania. He researches in the algebra of partial symmetries and also collaborates as a statistician in research projects, mainly in the health and social sciences.

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

I’ll try to identify what has changed in the mathematical sciences, and what has not, over the last 40-odd years. Then I’ll try to predict the directions that mathematics may take in coming decades, globally and locally. Finally I’ll consider how Australia (and Tasmania in particular) is positioned for these changes.

Presentation by Various Speakers

Stanley Burbury Theatre, UTAS

Tuesday, 18th August 2009 Commencing 8.00pm until 10.00pm

Winter Series

 

About the Speaker

Mark McKenzie (RARE Consulting), Dr Martin de Groot (CSIRO), Assoc Prof Graeme Wells (University of Tasmania)

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

1. Alternatives to Oil for Transport. 2. Demand Side Management. 3. Socio Economic Aspects of Future Energy Needs.

Presentation by Dr Richard Herr

Royal Society Room

Tuesday, 4th August 2009 Commencing 8.00pm until 10.00pm

Political Scientist

 

About the Speaker

Professor Richard Herr taught at the University of Tasmania for more than thirty-five years and has held a variety of positions including Head of Department before he retired in July 2008. He is now an Honorary Research Associate in the School of Government. He currently holds adjunct professorial positions at the University of Fiji and at the Fiji Institute of Technology. He earned a PhD in Political Science from Duke University in the United States and, during his academic career, he has published extensively on aspects of South Pacific affairs. In addition to his academic work, Prof. Herr has an active parallel career in consultancy and community affairs. He has also undertaken 11 international consultancies for the regional organisations and governments of the South Pacific. He was awarded an Order of Australia Medal on the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in June 2007 “for service to higher education in the field of political science, as a commentator on national and international political issues, and to the community.”

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

Australia has played a central role in the regional system of the Pacific Islands since it promoted the formation of the South Pacific Commission in 1947. With the end of the Cold War in 1989 Canberra, along with many other donors, has attempted to include good governance reform as a part of their aid-related objectives. This aim intensified in the post-9/11 era of the so-called

Presentation by Various Speakers

Stanley Burbury Theatre, UTAS

Tuesday, 21st July 2009 Commencing 8.00pm until 10.00pm

Winter Series

 

About the Speaker

Dr Mike Connarty (Hydro Tasmania), Dr David Griffin (CSIRO), John Titchen (Roaring 40’s)

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

1. Future Energy Options for Hydro Tasmania. 2. Ocean Power – Waves and Tides. 3. Wind Power in Tasmania

Presentation by Mr Peter Stevenson

Royal Society Room

Tuesday, 7th July 2009 Commencing 8.00pm until 10.00pm

 

 About the Speaker

Peter is an ex Tasmanian Geological Surveyor and an engineering geologist. Nowadays, he says he would be called called an “environmental geologist”! He has worked in the UK, South, North and South-West Africa, the Persian Gulf, Iraq, the Lebanon and Iran. His work was mostly on Groundwater and primary mapping. Peter is much exercised these days with the University of the Third Age with involvement in Geology, Islam, the English language and musical instrument making.

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

The lecture will give an appreciation of Robert FitzRoy with emphasis on his friendship with Charles Darwin and some remarks on his later life.

Presentation by Various Speakers

Stanley Burbury Theatre, UTAS

Tuesday, 16th June 2009 Commencing 8.00pm until 10.00pm

Winter Series

 

About the Speaker

Patrick Bourke (Australian Institute of Energy), Ian Barnes-Keoghan (Bureau of Meteorology), Fraser Kirkpatrick (Tasgas), Roger Lewis (Kuth Energy)

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

1. Overview of Tasmania’s Energy Sector. 2. Weathers Role in Tasmania’s Energy Sector. 3. The Role of Natural Gas in Tasmania. 4. Geothermal Potential in Tasmania.

Presentation by Bruce French

UTAS Tas Institute Ag. Research Building Room 349

Friday, 5th June 2009 Commencing 3..30pm until

About the Speaker

Bruce French is a graduate in agriculture from the Uni of Tas and has spent most of his professional career working in or involved with food plants and food production in Papua New Guinea. He has done field work in village settings and lectured at Vudal University. He has done a range of consultancies with FAO, CSIRO, World Bank, IBPGR, CARE (Aust), New Zealand AID and other organisations. He has published a reference set for Papua New Guinea covering Edible Plants, Insect Pests, Diseases, Crop Production, Food Composition, and also some regional studies. He is currently doing a similar series for the Solomon Islands. Currently, this work has grown into compiling a compendium as a database of edible plants of the tropical world (18,500 species), attempting to convey information in a plain English format accessible to indigenous workers. Towards this he has travelled to several Pacific, Asioan and African countries, as well as photgraphing plants in herbarium and Botanical gardens in Australia, New Zealand, and USA. In the past, some of this information has been put on FAO and Ecoport websites and some of it is available on the www.foodplantsinternational.com website. Rotary International are becoming supportive to enable the information to be delivered to schools and other groups in developing countries.

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

This Lecture will highlight and illustrate significant features of less familiar tropical food plants, and focus on their relevance for feeding a hungry world.

Presentation by Associate Professor Natalie Jackson

Royal Society Room

Tuesday, 2nd June 2009 Commencing 8.00pm until 10.00pm

 

About the Speaker

Natalie Jackson is an Associate Professor in the School of Sociology and Social Work, University of Tasmania. She is also the national president of the Australian Population Association. Natalie gained her Ph.D. in demography from the Australian National University, and also holds a Master of Social Science in demography and anthropology from the University of Waikato in New Zealand.Her main area of research is the different rates of population ageing unfolding across Australia’s states, territories and local government areas, and the social, economic and political implications of these trends. She is widely consulted on and published in the field, and has given over 100 invited presentations on this topic over the past five years. Natalie says that as an ageing baby boomer herself, she is driven to ensuring that demographic trends are fully understood and prepared for, both for her own comfort, and for those who must change the way they presently do business.

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

Continuing media reports of an anticipated growth in global population of some 2-3 billion over the next half century conceal a more important story: that of the end of global growth by the end of the century. Zero growth, and, in some cases absolute decline, is already extant across Europe and Japan, and will begin even in populous China well before mid century. Ironically then, after a century of hand-wringing about population growth, the emerging concern is depopulation, which is already being met in the developed world with baby bonuses and increased migration quotas. As the hands on the population clock slow, a number of unprecedented ‘cross-overs’ will occur: fewer labour market entrants than exits, more elderly than children, more deaths than births. These changes, which will unfold incongruently across and within countries, will raise many new challenges, uppermost among them labour market reform and ethical migration. This paper outlines the story.

Presentation by Ms Anita Hansen, PhD student, UTAS

Royal Society Room

Tuesday, 5th May 2009 Commencing 8.00pm until 10.00pm

This is lecture based on her Masters thesis on the orchid illustrations by William Archer 1820-1874

 

About the Speaker

Anita Hansen is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania. She is working on a joint project with the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, examining the nineteenth century natural history art collections held by major institutions in Tasmania. She recently (2007) completed her Masters, again a joint project with TMAG on the orchid illustrations of Tasmanian born artist William Archer (1820-1874). In 1993, she completed a Graduate Diploma in Art (Plant and Wildlife Illustration) at the University of Newcastle while working as a scientific illustrator and graphic designer with NSW Agriculture. Anita moved to Tasmania in 2003, where she worked as a freelance designer and illustrator before obtaining a scholarship to work on her PhD.

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

William Archer was a member of the Royal Society from 1847. He became Secretary of the Society in 1860. Although William Archer is known as an architect (he designed Mona Vale and Hutchins School) and as a politician (he was a member of the first freely elected Parliament, standing on an Anti-transportation platform), it is not widely known that Archer is also recognised as the first Australian-born botanical illustrator and botanist. He corresponded with Joseph Dalton Hooker, sending botanical specimens to him at Kew Gardens. In 1857, Archer travelled to England to work with JD Hooker on Flora Tasmaniae (1843-1860), arguably historically the most significant publication on Australian botany. Archer had been instrumental in obtaining a Tasmanian government grant of £350 toward the printing of this book. Upon hearing of this Darwin wrote to Hooker: “What capital news from Tasmania; it really is a very credible fact to the colony” … (In this letter he then stated that his ‘castle in the air’ was to emigrate to Tasmania, and he already regarded the colony as his ‘headquarters’) It is in the introduction to Flora Tasmaniae that Hooker first writes of his belief in Darwin’s theory of the mutability of species: “In the Introductory Essay to the New Zealand Flora, I advanced certain general propositions as to the origin of species, which I refrained from endorsing as articles of my own creed: amongst others was the still prevalent doctrine that these are … created as such, and are immutable. In the present Essay I shall advance the opposite hypothesis, that species are derivative and mutable … original reasonings and theories of Mr Darwin and Mr Wallace.”