The School of Physics

From the Head 2003 As I take over as Head of School I would particularly time of writing we are finalising relocations like to acknowledge the achievements of my within the School and beginning refurbishments predecessor as Head, Professor Don Melrose. Don needed to achieve these changes. succeeded in the unenviable task of restructuring Due to continuing retirements the School is March the School to reduce the general staff numbers to in the processes of filling two positions for be commensurate with the number of continuing continuing academic staff. One, in the area of academic staff. The result is that the School biological physics, will allow the School to expand now consists of research groups with a central present research efforts in this area. The other administrative structure in place of the previous position is in the area of computational physics, internal research departments with their individual where the School already has considerable expertise. administrative structures. Although the number of In 2002 the School offered for the first time, with The new Head of School, continuing academic staff has fallen significantly great success, Junior undergraduate units of study Assoc. Prof. Brian James over the last ten years or so, this has been in computational science. Both these initiatives accompanied by a large increase in research-only are indicative of the ways in which physics staff supported by external research grants, to the departments can make significant contributions in extent that their number is about twice that of the research and teaching to areas somewhat outside academic staff. This change is symptomatic of the the traditional physics discipline. changes in the research universities, where Another new development is the School’s postgraduate students and research-only staff contribution to high school physics teaching. funded by external grants are essential for most As part of the Faculty’s Kickstart Science program, Contact Details: research programs, and teaching loads for academic the School provides opportunities for high school School of Physics Alumni staff have risen. students to perform experiments from the new Dr John O’Byrne Don’s restructuring has positioned the School Higher School Certificate (HSC) physics syllabus. email well to seek new opportunities, and by the end of Unfortunately, many schools are not able to provide [email protected] phone +61 2 9351 3184 2002 we received very clear evidence of the success this essential component of the syllabus. fax +61 2 9351 7726 of this strategy. Federation Fellow Professor Ben In another connection to high schools, Matt Eggleton, who took up his position at the beginning Ryan, a science teacher at Brigidine College International Science of 2003, together with the School’s Professors Randwick, has been awarded the inaugural Science School Alumni Martijn de Sterke and Ross McPhedran were Teachers Fellowship at the University of Sydney. Dr Jenny Nicholls awarded one of eight successful Australian Research This fellowship will provide Matt with his salary email Council Centres of Excellence funded to commence for 12 months to allow him to pursue full-time his [email protected] in 2003. Their centre, the Centre for Ultrahigh- proposal to build a radio observatory and satellite phone +61 2 9351 3622 bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS) communications centre for high school students. fax +61 2 9351 7726 will be based in the School of Physics. This is a major success for the School, which will bring Brian James Postal Address many new people to the School, and confirms the Head of School School of Physics A28 The University of Sydney School as one of the major Australian centres for NSW 2006 Australia photonics research. web site One of the consequences of this success is a http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au major rearrangement within the School to provide See a profile of © School of Physics office and laboratory space for the Centre. At the Brian on page 4 1 Honours to School Members The members of the As the last issue of Alumni News was going to press, School of Physics it was announced that Prof Marcela Bilek was awarded have recently logged a the $35,000 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical pretty impressive record Scientist of the Year for her work in creating invaluable in terms of awards designer materials for industry. This award is and accomplishments, presented annually by the Federal Government by anyone’s judgment. “for outstanding achievement and potential in the physical sciences that advances, or has the potential to advance, human welfare or benefits society. This prize is awarded to individuals who are no more than 35 years of age at the time of the award.” Dr Karl receiving his Ig Nobel Prize from the 1976 For more information on the work Marcela does, Chemistry Nobel Laureate William Lipscomb her career highlights and a brief biography visit www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~mmmb/ to Associate Professor, as of 1 January 2003. Martijn The 2002 recipient of the Boas Medal from the is a theoretical physicist working in the field of optics, Australian Institute of Physics (AIP) was Prof Peter with close links to people in the Optical Fibre Robinson. The Walter Boas Medal is “to promote Technology Centre amongst others places. His work excellence in research in Physics and is awarded on is outlined on www.physics.usyd.edu.au/theory/ the basis of Physics research carried out in the five martijn_new.html, and elsewhere in this newsletter. years prior to the date of the award.” Peter’s work Dick Hunstead leads the Astrophysics group that runs includes the neurophysical modelling of brain the Molonglo Observatory. His wide-ranging interests dynamics as outlined in the research article in the are covered on www.physics.usyd.edu.au/astrop/ last Alumni News. Other areas of his extensive people/rwh.html. Tim is also an astronomer with research are outlined at www.physics.usyd.edu.au/ his major research topic being asteroseismology – theory/peter_new.html studying the way stars vibrate to gain information Long service medals were awarded to three staff about their interiors that are otherwise hidden. of the School during November. Duncan Campbell- He’s involved with a Danish group that will Wilson, has been with the School’s Molonglo launch Australia’s first space telescope into orbit Observatory near Canberra for 15 years and has been to discover more of the secrets of stars – see the Officer-in-Charge for many of them. Terry Pfeiffer www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~bedding/ has been a technical officer with the School for 20 years, Harry Messel’s motto is “The pursuit of with much of that time spent in Applied Physics. Bill excellence”. When he retired in 1987, the Messel Tango joined the School in 1976 and first worked on Award for Excellence was set up to recognise Prof Marcela Bilek, the prototype Michelson stellar interferometer that excellence in staff and students. The Award is given Malcolm McIntosh Physical Scientist of the Year, 2002 was constructed at Lindfield. This work led to the about every three years and Joe Khachan was the development of the Sydney University Stellar recipient in 2002. Joe works in the Plasma group Interferometer (SUSI) and he continues to play a major and his work on a portable neutron device was role in this project (see the October 2001 issue). reported in the August 1999 issue of the Alumni Martijn de Sterke and Dick Hunstead have been News. More information on his work is available on both been promoted to Professor and Tim Bedding www.physics.usyd.edu.au/app/people/j.khachan/ Last but surely not least, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki was honoured with an Ig Nobel Prize in inter- disciplinary research for his comprehensive survey of belly button lint – who gets it, when, what colour and how much. The “Igs are inflicted on you by the science humour magazine the Journal of Improbable Research” whose website (www.improb.com/ig/ig- top.html) explains that “the Igs honour people whose achievements ‘cannot or should not be reproduced’.” For more information on Karl’s prize-winning research 2 Long service medal winners: Bill Tango, Duncan Campbell-Wilson and Terry Pfeiffer see www.abc.net.au/science/k2/lint/default.htm March 2003

School News Research Funding Success The School of Physics has enjoyed astounding success recently in funding competitions, with a long list of large-scale research projects getting the nod KickStart from the government. The School’s funding allocation from the Australian Research Council (ARC) grants for 2003 alone was $1.4 million spread across Physics ten different projects. In addition to this, the University’s largest grant was In April last year, the School of Physics started its awarded to Professors Ben Eggleton and Martijn de Sterke for research into KickStart program for Year 12 high school physics new devices for nonlinear optical signal processing through the new Centre classes. Many high school teachers lack access to the for Ultra-high band-width Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS). The School experimental equipment required by the new HSC of Physics will act as the lead institution for CUDOS, in collaboration with syllabus, and are still adjusting to the new topics. researchers at four other universities. See page 6 for more info. High school students are now studying super- conductivity and special relativity! The KickStart New Staff program provides hand-on experiments and in-depth The School community has grown over the last few months. Among the knowledge of physics to high school teachers and new faces wandering the halls are Professor Ben Eggleton (Federation Fellow their students. and Director of CUDOS), Dr Geraint Lewis (astrophysics), Dr Lucyna Kedziora- Over 800 students came through the School in Chudczer (Theory), Dr Chris Walsh (CUDOS), Dr Peter Barnes (lecturer), 2002, from schools throughout Sydney, and even as Dr Matthew Hole (theory), Owen Shepherd (outreach), Martina Wardell, distant as Cowra and Orange. KickStart Physics has Lynda Fox, and Hannah Jurd (all in administration). also been an excellent opportunity to promote the School of Physics to many potential science School Review undergraduates. Thanks must go to Dr Chris Stewart The School of Physics underwent an external review in November 2002. and Dr Joe Khachan for setting up KickStart and The committee, consisting of physicists and other academics from within running it in 2002. and outside the University of Sydney, spoke with many of the academic KickStart programs are also running in Biology and staff, general staff and students in the School over several days. Their Chemistry. The program restarts in February this year, recommendations covered a wide range of operations in the School, including and we are expecting even larger numbers, going on the structure of committees, directions for future appointments, the the bookings so far. Spread the word to any physics supervision of students – even the refurbishment of the tea-room. Members teachers you know! of the School community were asked to join the discussion to address these recommendations.

Cadbury-Schweppes Quotes Competition The School ran the Quotes Competition again in second semester, with 10kg of Dairy Milk chocolate (generously provided by sponsors Cadbury Schweppes) handed out for the best lecturer quotes in semester two. The winner, judged by an expert panel of physics postgraduate students and administration staff, was Tom Allen, a first year Computational Science student. Tom submitted the following, uttered by Dr Mike Wheatland whilst he was eating an apple and after a student pointed out a sign stating “NO FOOD IN LAB”: “Oh no, that just means there’s no food AVAILABLE in the lab...”

Science Teachers Workshop 2002: Coffs Harbour Edition In October the Science Foundation ran the third Science Teachers Workshop for 2002 in Coffs Harbour. The School’s Outreach Officer, Owen Shepherd, Stephen Bosi demonstrating an experiment Kaye Placing from UniServe Science, School of Physics alumnus Dr Chris in the KickStart program to Year 12 students Stewart from the Unit for the History and Philosophy of Science and Dr Kate Wilson from UNSW, talked about the new NSW HSC syllabus with a group of 30 teachers from the Coffs Harbour region, including several who drove more than five hours to attend the two-day workshop. 3 Dr George Hawke It is little surprise that Dr George Hawke goes dissipation of morning drainage flows above to work by bus. As Senior Environmental Sydney in order to gain a better understanding of Consultant at Pacific Power he has a keen interest the dispersion of air pollutants. In turn, this helped in reducing pollution. to explain the brown haze above Sydney. He gained George’s interest in the environment began his Ph.D. in Environmental Science in 1980. early. “I was brought up on a wheat and sheep George worked as a Senior Research Assistant farm in central NSW. My father planted thousands in the School of Earth Sciences at Macquarie of trees on the property and one of my earliest University from 1975-1978. His area of research memories is of using a hand pump to water them.” was the meteorological aspect of the Sydney At eleven he attended Forbes High School where Oxidant Study. he was in the first year of the HSC examination. Following this, George spent the next decade “The Wyndham scheme, as it was known, as Officer in Charge of Air Investigations at the NSW introduced radical changes to the syllabus and State Pollution Control Commission (now the NSW the teachers had to follow a completely new Environment Protection Authority). Continuing curriculum. I remember learning science from with his interest in air pollution, his major project Butler and Messel’s great blue book, and being was a study of photochemical smog in the Sydney largely self taught. We became known as the region. As part of this, George embarked on a study ‘Wyndham guinea pigs’.” tour of USA in 1981. The project resulted in the In 1966, George attended the Summer Science introduction of unleaded petrol in NSW in 1986. School at the University of Sydney, a period to George moved to his present post with Dr George Hawke which he attributes his increased interest in science. Pacific Power – then known as the Electricity He subsequently applied to Sydney University Commission of NSW – in 1989. He has been where he enrolled in a B.Sc. certified by the Quality Society of Australasia as Lead “Looking back I have a vivid memory of the Environmental Auditor and has audited a number computer in the Physics building occupying the of construction projects such as the Penrith whole room. I also recall using mechanical Whitewater Stadium, the Blayney Wind Farm and calculators in mathematical statistics tutorials.” the interstate electricity transmission line “There were many stimulating projects and connecting NSW with Queensland. Other audits lecturers at this time. I particularly remember have resulted in improvements in environmental Dr Robert May’s excitement and animation. One protection in the electricity generating industry. of my assignments was ‘Power without Pollution’ George is highly experienced in a number which really developed my interest in environmental of areas including: environmental management science. However, this wasn’t the only factor. systems, environmental legislation and environ- While conducting experiments with lasers in the mental impact assessment. Plasma Physics Department I became concerned Although air pollution was one of the earliest about their military applications which also led environmental issues in Sydney, according to me more towards the environmental field.” George, this is now just one of many environ- George remembers living at University Hall, mental concerns. a hostel on the corner of Parramatta Road and “Water pollution, land contamination, noise, Glebe Point Road and the overnight journeys waste management are all areas that need home on the mail train at the end of term. When addressing. However, in my view the major not studying, George enjoyed playing cricket and environmental concern in Australia is land has fond memories of participating in the annual degradation caused by excessive clearing of staff vs student match during his fourth year. vegetation and salinity. For example, a significant He graduated in 1971 with a first class honours amount of topsoil has been lost in dust storms in Physics. during the recent drought. Another concern for a The following year George gained a Shell dry continent such as ours is water conservation.” Postgraduate Research Fellowship to study air When he is not working George enjoys his pollution meteorology at . eco-friendly hobbies of bush walking and 4 This involved investigations into the structure and photography. March 2003

Associate Professor Trying to catch up with Associate Professor Brian James Brian James is not easy. If he isn’t running a research program or collaborating on an important conclusion in 1971, he was appointed as a lecturer project he might be attending an international in the School of Physics. conference. As a physicist and academic, Brian Brian enjoys working collaboratively with enjoys being part of an international community, colleagues both at home and overseas. In 1974 he an area in which there will be even more was a research associate at the Culham Laboratory opportunities following his recent appointment as in the UK, where he worked on the development Head of the School of Physics at Sydney University. of submillimetre lasers for plasma diagnostics. This So where did it all begin? interest continued during the 1980s when Brian Born in 1946, Brian has always been encou- worked on a joint program with CSIRO. Further raged to realise his potential. His parents, both study leave included stints in California, Fukuoka, primary school teachers, had a strong influence Japan and Dublin. on Brian’s academic aims and aspirations. “I grew Brian is currently collaborating with Hiroshima up in an environment where I was expected to University on laser measurements of electric fields do well academically. My father had hoped to go in plasmas and closer to home with the Australian to university himself, but was thwarted first by National University on electric field diagnostics on family circumstances and then by war. I was the H-1 heliac, an apparatus in which plasmas are always encouraged to strive for the best manufactured. educationally and to seize the opportunities “Prudently applied, scientific discoveries can offered to me.” offer the world so much. I believe the understanding Brian went to Parramatta High and it was here of matter that came with quantum mechanics was that his interest in the sciences was given a major the most important discovery of the last century. boost. “In my first year there we had a science teacher Its consequences are far reaching and include the who was on an exchange program from England. development of lasers in the 1960s and the current He ran after-school classes in a number of areas. exciting developments in atom optics which I I remember in particular a project where we built anticipate will lead to major technologies in the electric motors. This undoubtedly encouraged my future.” interest in scientific and technical matters.” However, Brian acknowledges that all forms of Brian’s longstanding association with the School information can be misused, often in ways that of Physics began in 1963 when he embarked on cannot be foreseen. “The use we make of knowledge his first degree at Sydney University. He graduated is a matter for society to decide by processes three years later with first class honours in Physics involving the whole community.” and the University Medal. During his many years at Sydney University The new Head of School, Why did Brian ultimately chose physics? Brian has undertaken a range of responsibilities and Assoc. Prof. Brian James “Physics has a strong appeal as it deals with has just completed six years as associate dean in fundamental principles that are applicable to all the Faculty of Science. areas of science. I majored in Physics and Pure As well as his many international links, Brian is Maths, but decided to pursue a career in Physics looking forward to forming links of a different kind because I preferred the link that it offers with the by visiting Sydney schools to talk about physics in real world. For example, my research area - plasma the hope of inspiring the physicists of tomorrow. physics - is fundamental to an understanding of When not working, Brian enjoys leisure most of the universe. Everyday applications of activities with his wife Helen and their three teenage plasmas include fluorescent lights and plasma sons. His long held enthusiasm for bushwalking television screens.” has expanded to include an interest in flora and Brian remained at Sydney University to study fauna, local history and land use. Let’s just hope for his PhD on ionising shock waves. Upon its he can find the time! 5 CUDOS to School of Physics Researchers The School of Physics has just become the The manipulation of light through the use These are all non-linear devices, since they home to one of only eight Centres of Excellence of lenses and mirrors, and more recently depend on one signal being altered by the in Australia. The new Centre for Ultra-high through the development of lasers, optical presence of another. bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems fibres and photonic crystals and non-linear In a medium with linear optical prop- (CUDOS) will strengthen even further the optics, has greatly advanced the global erties, different light beams can superimpose School’s research in optical devices and its communications industry. Many countries, without disturbing each other. By contrast, standing in the academic community. including Australia, are rolling out optical a material that is optically non-linear allows Professors Ben Eggleton, Martijn de fibre networks for broadband comm- one beam of light to affect another, for Sterke and Ross McPhedran are three of the unications. These optical networks, while a example by changing its amplitude or twelve Chief Investigators named on the vast improvement over the slow, low frequency. This behaviour can be exploited proposal for CUDOS. The request for bandwidth electronic networks they replace, to create the non-linear components that $11.5 million in federal funding over the are already being saturated by the sheer comprise optical circuits. Centre’s five year lifespan was finally volume of traffic created by modern Applications of non-linear optics to such approved late last year. As of 1 January 2003, telephone and computer communication. basic photonic devices have been studied CUDOS is on-line and the group has already There is a pressing need for ultra-high and refined for many years, but the resulting begun constructing laboratories and fitting bandwidth communications to cope with apparatus is typically large and unwieldy. The out office space within the School. Over a this ever-increasing data load. CUDOS researchers propose to miniaturise dozen new research staff are expected to join The key to the successful production of these systems – if their research produces the Centre over the next five years. ultra-high bandwidth optical systems the means to shrink photonic devices down Australia’s economic future depends on envisioned by CUDOS is the use of non- to more manageable sizes, then complex its scientists’ ability to carry out world-class linear optical systems. Linear optical systems, optical systems could be manufactured on a research. A vital area for the future of such as basic optical fibres, are useful for single ‘photonic chip’ and mass-produced, Australian science and technology is the field simply propagating a signal from one place just as computer chips are today. of optical communications, and Sydney is to another. Sorting that signal, routing it, Professors Eggleton, McPhedran and de rapidly gaining strength in this sphere – it is amplifying it and decoding it currently Sterke emphasise that CUDOS will not be already home to the Australian Photonics require the light wave to be converted into geared towards producing marketable Cooperative Research Centre and the Optical an electrical signal. That signal can then be intellectual property or spawning spin-off Fibre Technology Centre. With the arrival of passed through conventional circuitry, built companies – at least, this isn’t a stated goal CUDOS, Sydney is truly set to become the from elementary electric components such of the Centre. Rather the group will “photonics” city. as switches and gates. These electrical circuits concentrate on excellence in research, on The Centre is a collaborative project constitute the main bottleneck to the pursuing novel ideas and applications combining the established expertise of efficient flow of information in current without the pressure to find ways to make researchers at the University of Sydney, ANU, communications equipment. them turn an immediate profit. Macquarie University, Swinburne University, Five years ago, a typical optical fibre “In this regard the Centre is a riskier the University of Technology, Sydney and the carried 16 channels of data at a rate of about venture than research groups more oriented CSIRO. It also builds on established research 2.5 Gigabits per second (Gbps) per channel. to intellectual property (IP), such as the links with photonics research groups at other Since then, bandwidth has increased to Co-operative Research Centres (CRCs),” Australian universities and CRCs, the DSTO, 40 channels carrying 10 Gbps each, and says Professor Eggleton. However, he is and international partners such as Professor cutting-edge optical systems aim as high as betting that over the five year life of the Eggleton’s previous employer, the prestigious 40 Gbps per channel. At these bandwidths, Centre, their research output will be so rich Bell Labs in the USA. the frequencies present in the signal are so that the spin-offs, the IP and the commercial “The main purpose of CUDOS is to high that electric circuits cannot reliably applications will emerge anyway. develop the theoretical and technical manipulate the data, and so the conversion Ultimately, CUDOS aims to put Sydney expertise to create photonic chips – the of optical to electric signal breaks down. on the map as a global leader in the building blocks for the next generation of There is a limit to the rate at which data can photonics industry. Professor Eggleton hopes optical systems,” says Professor Eggleton. be pushed through an electrical circuit. to turn CUDOS into one of the top three This means researching ways to miniaturise Beyond this, information is irretrievably lost. photonics research centres in the world. the required optics – an optical equivalent To get over this hurdle, future ultra-high “We’re using really exciting areas of to the great leap forward that occurred in bandwidth devices will need to avoid the photonics for some really important electronics when bulky, inefficient optical-to-electrical conversion step – which applications,” said Professor Eggleton. thermionic valves and tubes were replaced means they will require optical versions of “We want people to know who we are and by small, cheap, mass-produced integrated the switches, gates, amplifiers and all the what we’re about. We want people to think 6 circuits and computer chips. CUDOSother building blocks of elementary circuits. of us when they think about photonics.” March 2003

National Science Week activities and the 2003 Physics Competition In 2002 someone moved National Science the day of the competition. The objective Week! The ‘traditional’ May date moved to was to land the ball in target pipe imagined August, where it now seems set to stay. to be the corner of a tennis court. The Physics staff and students again played winning entry was the one most consistent a significant role in ‘Science in the City’ with in landing the ball in the pipe. Entrants were the ‘Giant Science’ show, run this year by free to decide if the ‘device’ caused the Joe Khachan and Chris Stewart. Karl racquet to hit the ball or vice versa (its all a Kruszelnicki, the School’s Julius Sumner question of “frames of reference” of course). Miller Fellow, Caroline Pegram, and ABC One entry exploited the fact that we didn’t radio presenter Adam Spencer once again specify that the ball had to hit the strings! took their ‘Sleek Geek Week’ Tour around The winner was an entry from a primary Australia, visiting Byron Bay, Launceston, school, which used a racquet and a small Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Broome, Alice backyard swing. They also took out the extra Springs, Cairns, Townsville, Canberra and prize of an eMac computer, donated by Karl Kruszelnicki with 2002 competition Sydney. The tour was an enormous success Apple Australia for the most innovative entry. winners Georgia Pearce and Gabrielle Stove – it would have been possible to fill the The 2003 Physics Competition is venues twice over. A few weeks later they the University’s MacLaurin Hall which, with entitled ‘Gravity Drive’. This challenge will took their unique slant on science to the its grand appearance and ornate wooden return to a previous idea using a vehicle, UK for a very successful nine day tour. ceiling, proved to be an added bonus for this time powered only by gravity, that must The Physics Competition for 2002 was many contestants on the day. travel a set distance (to be physically correct ‘Match Point!’. It was held on 24 August in Contestants were asked to design, build – a ‘displacement’) to be revealed on the day. and demonstrate a mechanical device using Do you know how to do it? Entries in a tennis racquet (or other stringed racquet) primary school, secondary school and open See what silly to hit a tennis ball a distance specified on divisions are welcome! things the lecturers say! Entries in the latest Physics Quotes Visit the Physics Competition web site for results and photos Competition can be found at from the 2002 Competition and details of the next competition. www.physics.usyd.edu.au/ quotes.html www.physics.usyd.edu.au/competition/comp2003/

Nobel and Ig Nobel Prizewinners at ISS2003

There can be few events where both a They will be joined by scientists whose playing, create-then-test-to-destruction Nobel and an Ig Nobel Prize winner will research spans the range of scales “From competitions and tours of research labs. speak, but the 32nd Professor Harry Messel Zero to Infinity”, the theme of ISS2003. The All 140 Year 11 and 12 students from International Science School will be one of topics will range from the apparently familiar, nine countries stay at St John’s College on them. Prof Jerome Friedman shared the such as Australian native animals and the campus, with an active social program for Nobel Prize for Physics in 1990 for work Great Barrier Reef to the definitely strange, the weekends and evenings run by the Young in particle physics. Dr Karl Kruszelnicki like the extremophiles, organisms that thrive Scientists of Australia, Sydney Chapter won the 2002 Ig Nobel Prize in in extreme temperature or pH conditions; (www.ysa.org.au). Then there’s the harbour interdisciplinary research for his from blue sky stuff such as galactic cannibal- cruise and the farewell dinner, as well as the comprehensive survey of belly button lint – ism and the early universe to immediately chance to interact directly with all those who gets it, when, what colour and how applicable studies such as the effect of top scientists. much. Both will be speaking at the two- radiation on biological and electronic For more on the 2003 International week, fully residential International Science systems, and high resolution meteorology. Science School, including the complete School held at The University of Sydney from As well as the lectures, the formal list of topics and lecturers, see: 6-19 July 2003. program is rounded out by experiments, role www.scienceschool.usyd.edu.au 7 Where are you now? Alumni report on themselves

School of Physics Alumni Richard Lindsay Dowden (BSc (Hons) 1955) We welcome After graduation and a few months with the Radiophysics (A year after the degree indicates a Sydney University degree.) Division of CSIRO, then on the Sydney campus, he spent contributions a year at Macquarie and then eight years in Tasmania. Dr Neville de Mestre (BSc (Hons) 1959, DipEd to this column, Whilst there he acquired an MSc, PhD and DSc at the 1960) I am the chair of the Mathsport group of which should . In 1966 he was appointed a ANZIAM (Australia and New Zealand Industrial and Professor at Otago University, retiring in 1988. be sent to the Applied Mathematics). I have been Director of five of the six Mathematics and Computers in Sport contacts listed Conferences held in Australia. My research is International Science on the front of investigating the dynamics of many sports including School Alumni the Newsletter. cricket, rowing, shot put, triathlon, golf, baseball, (The State/Country the person represented at the tennis and lawn bowls. International Science School, and the year of the School Another research interest is mathematical education are given in brackets after each person’s name.) where I emphasise a hands-on approach using experiments with counters, card, rods and other tactile Tamyka Bell (ISS 1997) Despite my best efforts to objects. This work led to the establishment of the ACT become a biochemist, I graduated with first class honours Mathematics Centre which evolved into the Questacon in physics at the in 2002 and Travelling Maths Centre under the auspices of the got awarded a University Medal. I think that the ISS really National Science and Technology Centre. sparked my interest in physics and that’s why I ended For recreation I play bridge, go orienteering (several up here today. I am now doing a PhD in linear optics national and State titles) and compete in surf lifesaving quantum computation at UQ, as part of the ARC Special (16 national titles and 4 world titles). Research Centre for Quantum Computer Technology. I currently teach business Mathematics, Business Statistics and Problem Solving at Bond University. I am Emma Kemp (ISS 1995) After finishing school in Deputy Chair of Senate, Chair of ANZIAM, and enjoying 1996, I spent six months travelling the world and doing my part as one of the few mathematicians in an volunteer jobs such as teaching English in Thailand, Information Technology School. working on a steam train line near Melbourne, and learning to be a pine tree farmer in Fiji. The following six Greg Palmer (BSc 1993) Greg completed a BSc months were spent in various jobs paying back my travel in 1992. Since graduating he has worked in the costs. I then spent four years at the University of telecommunications sector – for one vendor (Alcatel) Edinburgh, where I completed a BSc in chemistry in and two operators (Vodafone and Hutchison). He is 2001. Since then, I have been living in a small town in presently working on standards and strategy associated southern Germany, learning the language and working with the Hutchison 3G network. In 2000 he completed for the publishing company Wiley-VCH as an assistant an LLB and expects to complete a graduate diploma editor, first for Angewandte Chemie and now for the sister

in legal practice and attain a NSW practicing certificate journals ChemPhysChem and ChemBioChem. I am still School of Physics this year. He has been married for 8 years and has an incurable travel addict and hope to find some time for two daughters. another big trip in the future.

HARRY

It is now almost fifteen years since Harry Messel Many alumni of the School, or of the International retired as Head of the School of Physics at the Science Schools, will have memories of Harry, University of Sydney. Now 80 years old, Harry perhaps in the lecture room, maybe as you passed The University of Sydney continues on as strongly as ever. Equally impor- him and his ever-present cloud of cigar smoke in tantly, his memory remains undiminished. the corridor, or from a one-on-one interaction. There are literally hundreds of stories about Please write your story down, and send it to Dick Harry, many of them amusing, some poignant, for inclusion in this memorial. but they all tell us something about the man. In an The most convenient way of sending your effort to ensure that the contributions of Harry story is electronically, as a Word attachment to an Messel are remembered well into the future, the email. Please send this to:- recently retired Head of the School, Dick Collins, Dick: [email protected] with a copy to would like to collate these stories and to put them Jenny Nicholls: [email protected] together into a book. The working title of the book Alternatively, you could send the story in hard is simply “Harry”. All proceeds from the book will copy to Dick Collins at the School of Physics, 8 Professor Harry Messel go into the Messel Endowment. University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia.