School of and ISS Alumni Association November 2008

June 2008 June 2008 BE A PART OF YOUR ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Contact us at: School of Physics A28 The University of Alumni Update NSW 2006 T: +61 2 9036 5194 E: [email protected] E: [email protected] Visit: www.usyd.edu.au/alumni

Oc between Brendon Brewer and Professor Geraint Lewis from the School of Physics and Dr OUR OWN TALL POPPY Dominik A. Riechers Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech, Pasadena, CA, USA. Professor Bryan Gaensler (left), from the School of Physics, was announced as one of four outstanding University researchers who AWARD-WINNING ALUMNI received New South Wales Young Tall Poppy Science Awards at a special reception at NSW State Parliament House on 23 October. Professor Tanya Monro has won the Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist at the Prime Ministerʼs Science Awards. Tanya, a USyd PhD Physics graduate, studied Bryan won for his research into the static and crackle of the radio waves produced by stars and to study magnetic fields in the universe. photonics here with Professor Martijn de Sterke. Since 2005 sheʼs been Professor of Bryan has received eight awards and fellowships including Young Photonics and Director, Centre of Expertise in Photonics, School of Chemistry and Physics, Australian of the Year (1999) and the NASA Long Term Space University of Adelaide. Tanya realised that by introducing air holes, or tunnels, within the Award. Congratulations! optical fibre, itʼs possible to concentrate the light guided by the fibre within a much smaller area, increasing the light intensity. She demonstrated that itʼs possible to process and regenerate photonic data signals using light itself, simply by passing them through a few BRENDON’S GALACTIC CLEAR VISION metres of this new type of fibre. Her work opened the way to using new kinds of glass Brendon Brewer was a 22-year-old PhD student at the University's School of Physics, known as soft glasses' because of their lower melting points and bypassing some of the limitations of silica glass. when he developed a computer program to solve gravitational lensing, one of the major problems of modern astronomy. Gravitational lensing is a phenomenon sometimes referred to by as a 'natural telescope', which can bend and stretch DR KARL’S Science is Golden with Lots of Scars images into different shapes making it difficult to clearly observe distant galaxies. Brendon explains, "When one sits in front of another it distorts the galaxy behind making it A special two-for-one book deal is available to our difficult to see the structure of distant galaxies, which can provide us with necessary clues Physics and ISS Alumni. Dr Karl Kruszelnikciʼs latest about how galaxies formed in the early universe. I've developed a 'de-lensing' program that book, Science is Golden, is being sold through the Science still allows the gravitational lens to be used as a natural telescope but without the distortion." Foundation for Physics for the bargain price of $20 (RRP $25.95) when purchased with Professor Dick Collinsʼ So far the program has enabled astronomers to sharply focus on the most distant galaxies. autobiography, Lots of Scars – the story of a career scientist. "We've recently used the technique to map star-forming regions in an early universe galaxy The whole deal comes to $30, saving you a combined total of which also shows clouds of carbon monoxide gas. We've also produced some of the $25.90! (N.B. Postage & handling is $5.00 extra.) Itʼs a great sharpest images ever of a lensed galaxy - something that's a first." Using Brendon's gift and just in time for the holidays. Funds raised through program astronomers have located where the molecular hydrogen is and how the different package deal sales will support the Professor Harry Messel parts are moving in a distant galaxy that also hosts a quasar in its core. International Science School (ISS) 2009 – Genes to Galaxies. To purchase your special package deal download the form at: "Brendonʼs achievement is significant and is quite an advance on what is already out there. We were very conscious of designing this program in the best way so as to extract as much www.physics.usyd.edu.au/foundation then fax to Alison Muir possible information about distant, early universe galaxies," said Brendon's supervisor, on: +61 2 9351 7726 or email: [email protected] - Associate Professor Geraint Lewis. This highly fruitful scientific collaboration has been Please print clearly and allow four weeks delivery.