Conversations with Australian scientists

Dr John Passioura was born in Balranald on the Murrumbidgee River, New South Wales and grew up in Melbourne, where his family owned and operated a milk bar. He has a bachelor's degree in Agricultural Science (1958) and a PhD in soil chemistry (1963) from the University of Melbourne. Interviewed by Dr John Kirkegaard in 2022.

Dr Leanne Armand developed an early love for nature, later pursuing biology and palaeontology through fieldwork and research. Her career evolved into micropalaeontology, focusing on fossil algae to study past sea temperatures and sea ice estimation. Interviewed by Ms Marian Heard in 2001.

Nicole Webster was born in Ormskirk, UK in 1973. Webster completed a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in 1995 and a PhD in 2001, both at James Cook University in Queensland. Her PhD thesis investigated the microbial ecology of a Great Barrier Reef sponge, focusing on the stability of the symbiotic associations over different areas and under different stresses. Webster’s first postdoctoral fellowship was with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in 2001.

Oliver Mayo was born in Adelaide in 1942. Mayo was educated at St Peter’s College and then enrolled in a BSc degree at the University of Adelaide. He completed this degree, with Honours, in 1964. Mayo then began his PhD, again at the University of Adelaide, which he completed in 1968.

Patricia Woolley was born in 1932 in Denmark, Western Australia. After she earned a BSc from the University of Western Australia (1955) she continued working there as a research assistant to Professor Harry Waring, investigating marsupial biology. Her lifelong interest in dasyurid marsupials began at this time.

John Robin Warren was born in Adelaide in 1937. Despite an equal love for photography Warren entered medical school at the University of Adelaide, graduating with an MB and BS in 1961. A chance turn of fate led Warren to pathology and after training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in 1967 he was admitted to the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.

Rohan’s early curiosity, fostered by his scientist father, led him from studying organic chemistry to a passion for molecular biology during his university years. A leading researcher at the John Curtin School, he continued to focus on the protein ubiquitin’s role in protein regulation, cancer and integrating advanced molecular techniques to understand cell function and disease. Interviewed by Mr David Salt in 2002.

Roy Woodall was born in Perth, W.A. in 1930 and spent his childhood in the midst of the Great Depression. At age 16 Woodall began work as a junior clerk in the Hydraulics Division of the Public Works Department, while continuing his studies at night school. Woodall then enrolled in a science degree at the University of Western Australia which he completed with honours in 1953.

Shirley Jeffrey received a BSc from the University of Sydney in 1952 and an MSc in 1954. For her PhD, she went to King's College Hospital Medical School in London and worked on the effect of aspirin on carbohydrate metabolism. She returned to Sydney in 1951 to work with Dr George Humphrey at CSIRO Division of Fisheries and Oceanography. This was the beginning of her lifelong career in marine science. From 1962 to 1964, Jeffrey was at the University of California, Berkeley, as a research fellow funded by the Kaiser Foundation. In 1965 she was invited to join the maiden voyage of the Alpha Helix, the research vessel of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, which was coming to Australia to study the ecology of the Great Barrier Reef. Jeffrey was a principal research scientist at CSIRO's marine biochemistry unit between 1971 and 1977. From 1977 to 1981 she was a senior principal research scientist at CSIRO Division of Fisheries and Oceanography and then acting chief of CSIRO Division of Fisheries Research (1981–84). In 1991 she became a chief research scientist. From 1978 to 1995 Jeffrey was in charge of developing the CSIRO Collection of Living Microalgae (also known as the Algal Culture Collection). In 1996 UNESCO published Phytoplankton Pigments in Oceanography which Jeffrey co-edited.

Dr Yvonne Aitken received a doctorate in agricultural science from the University of Melbourne, and continued to work there throughout her career. Her research centred on how plant species adapt to climate through the differing flowering responses of early and late varieties and how this in turn affects the growing period (ie, days from sowing to flower initiation, to first flower and to ripe seed). Interviewed by Ms Nessy Allen in 2001.