Ross Day is distinguished amongst Australian scientists for his efforts to have experimental psychology recognized as one of the biological sciences. He has made clear the separation of psychophysics, which is a hard and exacting discipline, having its modern beginnings with the work of von Helmholtz, from other kinds of psychological inquiry which do not have close affinities with analytical studies of the nervous system. The department he founded at Monash University is an embodiment of this and has an excellent reputation world-wide. Apart from his personal scientific achievements, he has an outstanding record as a scientific administrator and advisor. He has been dean of Science at Monash, a long-time member of the ARGS, and a member of a number of other government scientific bodies. He was awarded an Honorary DSc by La Trobe University.