Home > Media releases > 2000

ACADEMY ELECTS CHIEF SCIENTIST
5 May 2000

The President of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Brian Anderson, has announced the election of Dr Robin J Batterham, as a Fellow of the Academy. Dr Batterham was elected by Special Election, a procedure which allows the Academy to elect a very small number of people who have made distinguished contributions to science in ways other than personal research. No more than two Fellows can be elected in this way every three years. In the same period 36 Fellows are elected for their distinguished research performance.

Dr Batterham, a chemical engineer (Melbourne University), has a lively range of interests straddling the two worlds of laboratory science and industrial development. In CSIRO he was (1984-88) Chief of the Division of Mineral Engineering. From 1988 he has held senior positions in Technology Development with CRA Limited, now Rio Tinto Limited. He is currently Managing Director, Research and Technology Support, Comalco and Chief Technologist, Rio Tinto Limited. He has played an important role, since 1990, in the Cooperative Research Centres program, as a panel member in physical sciences, and subsequently as a member of the CRC committee itself. In 1999 he was appointed as Chief Scientist.

In announcing the election, the Academy's President, Professor Brian Anderson, said, 'Dr Batterham has brought to the position of Chief Scientist erudition, energy, acuity and skill, and has exhibited his breadth of understanding of the two worlds in which he has worked. He is also an organist of distinction and Deputy Director of Music at Scots Church, Melbourne.'

New members of Council

At its Annual General Meeting the Academy also replaced five retiring Council members. Those elected were:

Dr Graeme Pearman, a Member in the physical sciences. Graeme Pearman is Chief of CSIRO Atmospheric Research in Aspendale, Victoria.

Professor Cheryl Praeger, a Member in the physical sciences. Cheryl Praeger is Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Western Australia.

Professor Marilyn Renfree, a Member in the biological sciences. Marilyn Renfree is Head of the Department of Zoology at the University of Melbourne.

Following the resignation in October 1999 of the late Professor Michael Pitman, Professor Kurt Lambeck was elected Foreign Secretary and Professor Bruce McKellar, Secretary (Physical Sciences). Kurt Lambeck is Profesor of Geophysics at the Australian National University. Bruce McKellar is Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Melbourne.

More information on Council is available at http://www.science.org.au/academy/council/officers.htm