Fellows' biographical memoirs

This memoir discusses John Philip’s character and his work as Australia’s most distinguished environmental physicist. It explores his management of science and his role in the Australian Academy of Science as well as his poetry and his fascination with architecture.

John Stewart Turner was born in Middlesborough, England on 9 September 1908, second son of Thomas Stewart and Ellen Turner (née Spice). His father was a Government inspector of armour plate. Apart from an older brother he had one sister and two younger brothers. His early childhood was spent in Stockport, Cheshire, where the family lived in a big rambling house with a large garden wonderfully suited to playing games and going for secret walks.

John William White was a pioneer in the application of neutron scattering to chemistry and one of the most influential advocates for neutron facilities globally, particularly in Australia.

Professor Joseph Pawsey FAA FRS founded Australia's radio astronomy program, detecting solar radio emissions and pioneering interferometry techniques that became standard tools worldwide.

Professor Joe Gani was a mathematical statistician who founded the Journal of Applied Probability and led CSIRO's Division of Mathematics and Statistics. His research contributions are dominated by stochastic modelling, especially epidemic theory.

Professor Keith Cole FAA was a leader in space physics whose work explained several puzzling phenomena in the ionosphere and thermosphere.

Keith Edward Bullen was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 29 June 1906. He attended schools in the Auckland area, completing his schooling at Auckland Grammar School in 1922; he earned recognition as a National Scholar, and was awarded the Eric Astley Prize for mathematics and science and a University Entrance Scholarship. From 1923 to 1925 he was a full-time student at Auckland University College and graduated BA in 1925, his major subjects being pure and applied mathematics.

Kenneth Baillieu Myer was elected to the Fellowship of the Australian Academy in April 1992, under the provision for special election of people who are not scientists but have rendered conspicuous service to the cause of science.

Dr Ken Key FAA was an entomologist distinguished for his work on the ecology and taxonomy of locusts and grasshopphers, leading work to understand the causes of plague locust outbreaks in Australia.

Kenneth Le Couteur was the Foundation Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Australian National University, internationally recognised for his contributions to the statistical model of excited nuclei and to particle accelerators.