LEGENDS OF SOUTH AFRICAN SCIENCE II © Academy of Science of South Africa March 2020 ISBN 978-1-928496-01-4 DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/assaf.2018/0036 Cite: Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), (2019). Legends of South African Science II. [Online] Available at: DOI http://dx.doi. org/10.17159/assaf.2018/0036 Published by: Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) PO Box 72135, Lynnwood Ridge, Pretoria, South Africa, 0040 Tel: +27 12 349 6600 • Fax: +27 86 576 9520 E-mail: [email protected] Reproduction is permitted, provided the source and publisher are appropriately acknowledged. The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) was inaugurated in May 1996. It was formed in response to the need for an Acade- my of Science consonant with the dawn of democracy in South Africa: activist in its mission of using science and scholarship for the benefit of society, with a mandate encompassing all scholarly disciplines that use an open-minded and evidence-based approach to build knowledge. ASSAf thus adopted in its name the term ‘science’ in the singular as reflecting a common way of enquiring rather than an aggregation of different disciplines. Its Members are elected, based on a combination of two principal criteria: academic excellence and significant contributions to society. The Parliament of South Africa passed the Academy of Science of South Africa Act (No 67 of 2001), which came into force on 15 May 2002. This made ASSAf the only academy of science in South Africa officially recognised by government and representing the country in the international community of science academies and elsewhere. 2 |LEGENDS OF SOUTH AFRICAN SCIENCE II| | CONTENTS | 4 Acronyms and Abbreviations 65 Anthony Mbewu 6 Foreword 67 Chabani Manganyi Profiles 69 Veronica McKay 7 Miriam Adhikari 71 Phil Mjwara 9 Lewis Ashwal 73 Vincent Moran 11 Saleem Badat 75 Johann Mouton 13 Ahmed Bawa 77 Daniel Ncayiyana 15 Solomon Benatar 79 Mokubung Nkomo 17 Arvinkumar Bhana 81 Cyril O’Connor 19 Nigel Bishop 83 Philip Onyebujoh 21 George Branch 85 Iqbal Parker 23 Chris Brink 87 Calie Pistorius 25 Peter Cleaton-Jones 89 Bernard Prior 27 Neville Raymond Comins 91 Mamphela Ramphele 29 Richard Cowling 93 Doug Rawlings 31 David Dewar 95 Terence Robinson 33 Anton Eberhard 97 Justus Roux 35 Petra Engelbrecht 99 Beric Skews 37 Michael Feast 101 Hendrik (Hennie) Snyman 39 Brian Figaji 103 Rolf Stumpf 41 Peter Folb 105 Chris Swanepoel 43 Richard Fuggle 107 Nthoana Tau-Mzamane 45 Christoph Garbers 109 Petro Terblanche 47 Richard Goldstone 111 Jennifer Thomson 49 Diane Grayson 113 Peter Tyson 51 Fritz Hahne 115 Annél van Aswegen 53 Raymond Haines 117 Anton van Niekerk 55 Manfred Hellberg 119 Johan van Zyl 57 Eugene Julies 121 Daan Verwoerd 59 Johann Kirsten 123 Sibusiso Vil-Nkomo 61 Jan Malherbe 125 David Walker 63 Vincent Maphai 127 Patricia Whitelock 129 David Woods |LEGENDS OF SOUTH AFRICAN SCIENCE II| 3 | ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS | ADA African Doctoral Academy IUPAP International Union of Pure and Applied Physics AIMS African Institute for Mathematical Sciences IHESP International Higher Education & Strategic Projects ANC African National Congress IPCC Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change ANU Australian National University LIGO Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory ARC Agricultural Research Council Mattek Materials Science and Technology BEE Black Economic Empowerment MCC Medicines Control Council CDC Centre for Disease Control M&E Monitoring and evaluation CEO Chief Executive Officer MHaPP Mental Health and Poverty Project CHAMPSA Collaborative HIV and Adolescent Mental Health Project MHiNT Mental Health Integration Project CHE Council on Higher Education MISTRA Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection COBALT Comorbid Affective Disorders, AIDS/HIV, and Long-Term Health MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research MRC Medical Research Council CRAC Centre for Computational Relativity, Astrophysics and NACI National Advisory Council on Innovation Cosmology NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration CREST Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology NASSP National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme DBE Department of Basic Education NICRO National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of DHE Department of Higher Education and Training Offenders DG Director-General NIMR National Institute for Materials Research DH Digital humanities NMU Nelson Mandela University DRC Dutch Reformed Church NPRL National Physical Research Laboratory DST Department of Science and Technology NRF National Research Foundation E&M Evaluation and monitoring NSFAS National Student Financial Aid Scheme EIA Environmental impact assessment NSTF National Science and Technology Forum FABI Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute NWU North-West University FET Further education and training OAD Office of Astronomy for Development GM Genetically modified OWSD Organisation for Women in Science for the Developing World GSH Groote Schuur Hospital PEP Post-exposure prophylaxis HESA Higher Education South Africa PRIME Programme for Improving Mental Health Care HIV Human immunodeficiency virus RAU Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit HLT Human language technologies RNA Ribonucleic acid HOD Head of Department RU Rhodes University HSRC Human Sciences Research Council SAAO South African Astronomical Observatory ICPP International Congress on Plasma Physics SAAVI South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative ISC International Science Council SABS South African Bureau of Standards ICTR International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda SADiLaR South African Digital Language Resource Centre ICTY Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia SAIL South African Institute of Physics Council ICU Intensive care unit SAIP South African Institute of Physics IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers SALT Southern African Large Telescope ISO International Organisation for Standardisation SANLI South African National Literacy Initiative 4 |LEGENDS OF SOUTH AFRICAN SCIENCE II| | ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS | SAWISE South African Women in Science and Engineering UJ University of Johannesburg SKA Square Kilometre Array UK United Kingdom S-MhINT Southern African Research Consortium for Mental Health UKZN University of KwaZulu-Natal Integration UN United Nations SuperDARN Super Dual Auroral Radar Network UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation STIAS Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Study Unisa University of South Africa SU Stellenbosch University UP University of Pretoria TB Tuberculosis UPE University of Port Elizabeth THELMA Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Award USA United States of America TIA Technology Innovation Agency USAf Universities South Africa TRC Truth and Reconciliation Commission UWC University of the Western Cape TYIP Ten-Year Innovation Plan WHO World Health Organization UCT University of Cape Town Wits University of the Witwatersrand UFS University of the Free State |LEGENDS OF SOUTH AFRICAN SCIENCE II| 5 | FOREWORD | After the overwhelming success of Legends of South African Science, contributions by accomplished South African scientists and scholars who, published in 2017 as part of the 20 year celebrations of the Academy of using an evidence-based approach have contributed significantly in Science of South Africa (ASSAf), this edition of Legends of South African growing the global knowledge production in their respective fields. Many Science II continues with profiling Members who were elected between of these scholars have held senior positions at academic institutions, been 1993 – 2000. part of national and international committees, served at Governmental positions, and worked unstintingly in shaping the agendas of the post- The 62 Members profiled in this edition represent some of the longest apartheid South Africa. standing ASSAf Members. One of the strengths of a national Academy is the disciplinary diversity of its Membership. Collectively, the narratives Their stories are fascinating, their contributions to science invaluable, and of the Members profiled in this edition represent the apex of academic their service to society diverse and inspiring. It is also touching and inspiring excellence and scholarship in fields such as physics, chemistry, medicine, to see how many scientists during this era were supported, inspired and education, law, agriculture, economics, education, environmental uplifted by the late President Nelson Mandela. They were all committed to sciences, geology, ethics, engineering, architecture, political science, building a democratic South Africa, even in the face of many adversities. entomology, microbiology, statistics, molecular biology, infectious Mamphele Ramphele acknowledges that while “ASSAf has gone a long diseases, linguistics, marine science, psychology, zoology and botany. All way towards closing the gap between science, society and government, these Members have used their formal academic training in their specific she stresses “that social and other scientists have to build more effective fields and demonstrated how, through engagement with scholars in other connections between their work and society.” ASSAf strives in upholding fields, both locally and internationally, contributed to them becoming its mandate of using evidence-based science in the service of society. champions and leaders in advancing knowledge. As Calie Pistorius We are grateful to all the Members profiled in this edition who agreed to reminds