Science at the Shine Dome 2012

Annual symposium
100 years of Antarctic Science

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Program booklet (including biographies and abstracts)

As to the Antarctic ... almost every observation would be fresh material added to the sum of human knowledge.

These are the words of explorer Douglas Mawson, who led a team of men (mostly scientists) into an unknown part of Antarctica in 1911. His venture, the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911–14, opened new and exciting opportunities for scientific exploration and endeavour. A hundred years later, the Australian Academy of Science presents an exploration of the diverse scientific endeavours that have resulted. The symposium brings together national and international experts who have worked in Antarctica on subjects as diverse as physics, genetics, geology, meteorology, biology, glaciology and climate change.

Mawson was a founding Fellow of the Academy. He knew that Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are significant influences on Australia's weather. We now know that the region is susceptible to rapid change, and that high latitude processes involving ocean currents, sea ice and the carbon cycle affect the rest of the globe. This symposium celebrates a century of scientific endeavour. It is also an acknowledgement that, 100 years after Mawson's pioneering expedition, there is still much to learn.