Fellows' biographical memoirs

Professor Ronald Giovanelli FAA was a physicist who established Australian solar observatories, pioneered the concept of magnetic reconnection in solar flares and helped build the nation's wartime optical measurement standards.

Professor Ronald Wharton FAA was an entomologist who advanced global understanding of malaria and filariasis in Malaya, and pioneered cattle-tick control research at CSIRO.

Ross Henry Day was an Australian experimental psychologist well known for his research on visual illusions and for his critical role in the establishment of experimental psychology in Australia.

Ross Crozier was a population geneticist and leader in the study of the evolutionary genetics of social insects who produced the first sequence of the honey bee mitochondrial genome and contributed to kin selection theory.

From humble beginnings, Roy Woodall formed and led the team that became Australia’s greatest discoverer of ore deposits, including Olympic Dam, while he was recognised internationally as an icon in the mineral exploration world.

Sir Rupert Horace Myers was a materials scientist and one of the first people to be awarded a PhD from an Australian university. As a university administrator, he was a model of scientific and academic leadership.

Sir Rutherford Ness (Bob) Robertson was one of Australia's most distinguished, influential and respected scientists. He was eminent both for his contributions to scientific thought and knowledge and for the remarkable range of activities he undertook in the cause of science. His contributions to our understanding of the bioenergetics of inorganic ion transport in plant cells were widely recognised. In his other life he served in a number of key administrative-managerial positions, was the prime mover in a variety of major initiatives that had critical and lasting impacts on the development of Australian science and was a trusted friend and adviser to a generation of younger plant scientists. Known universally as Bob and almost universally addressed as such, it would seem odd and almost disrespectful not to refer to him in this way here.

Professor Sidney Charles Bartholomew Gascoigne AO FAA was an Aotearoa New Zealand-born astronomer whose distinguished career was carried out mostly in Australia. He is known for his work developing and commissioning the Anglo–Australian Telescope.

Professor S. Warren Carey (as he preferred to be known) personified a philosophy of synthesis/integration that lies at the heart of large-scale disciplines such as geology and astronomy.

Professor Sally Smith was a botanist and mycologist recognised as a world authority on the mycorrhizal symbiosis between plants and fungi.