Fellows update—March 2021

March 31, 2021

Honours and awards to Fellows

Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC FAA FTSE—elected a Foreign Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of India

Emeritus Professor Stephen Powles FAA FTSE—Seed of Gold Award, Grains Research and Development Corporation

Professor Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop AO FAA—2020 Harrie Massey Medal, Australian Institute of Physics

Obituary

Dr Roy Woodall AO FAA FTSE

Dr Roy Woodall

3 November 1930 to 14 February 2021

Dr Roy Woodall was elected to the Academy in 1988 for his contribution to the development of the geological sciences as applied to mineral exploration, and for his contribution to the discovery of some of Australia's major mineral resources.

After completing a master degree at the University of California at Berkeley, Dr Woodall returned to Western Australia as a geologist where he discovered bauxite deposits in an area that became a vast source of the lowest cost alumina in the world. At Western Mining, Dr Woodall was appointed Chief Geologist in 1967, Exploration Manager in 1968 and Director of Exploration from 1978 to 1995. Dr Woodall’s scientific approach to exploration, and his use of the latest geological techniques, contributed greatly to the discovery of the Kambalda Nickel Field (1964), uranium at Yeelirrie (1971), the Olympic Dam copper-gold-uranium deposit (1975) and the East Spar oil-condensate field (1993).

Dr Woodall was a Foundation Member of the Geological Society of Australia and was made a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) in 1977. He received the Geological Society of London’s William Smith Medal in 1983, ATSE’s Clunies Ross Award in 1993 and ATSE’s Lifetime Contribution Award in 2011. The University of Western Australia awarded Dr Woodall an Honorary Doctorate of Science in 1985. He received the Academy’s Mawson Medal and Lecture in 1984, the Haddon Forrester King Medal in 1993, and the Ian Wark Medal and Lecture in 1996. Dr Woodall was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1981 and received the Centenary Medal in 2001.

Dr Woodall served on numerous Academy committees, and was interviewed by Professor Richard Stanton FAA for the Academy in 2008.

© 2024 Australian Academy of Science

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