Did you know?

Brigadier Sir Neil Hamilton Fairley KBE FRS (15 July 1891 – 19 April 1966) was an Australian physician, medical scientist and army officer.

Max Day at Harvard University in 1940. All photos supplied courtesy of Max Day
What is the most exciting thing you’ve done in science?
What is the most exciting thing you’ve done in science?

It's a toss-up between provoking the inactivated X chromosome into action and debunking the gene everyone thought was sex determining.

What was thrilling was the answers to both profound questions came from simple and quick experiments, which instantly changed our picture of how sex chromosomes work. I wish all science was like that!

Both discoveries had long-term benefits to our understanding of sex chromosomes.

Patrick De Deckker / Dan Wilkins What is the most exciting thing you’ve done in science?
Professor Alpers arrived in Papua New Guinea in 1961 Papua New Guinea and Mad Cows

Michael Alpers has spent his life studying kuru and tropical infectious diseases, mostly in Papua New Guinea. His work on kuru opened up a new field of human medicine and led to the discovery of prions.

Mount Tianmen, Tianmen Mountain National Park, China, near where Avatar was filmed (2007) Electric trains to engineer
Plant biologist Who is someone that inspired you?
Teaching a bird anatomy class at UNSW with my daughter’s pet Eclectus Parrot in attendance Bringing extinct species back to life!

Paleontologist Michael Archer, Fellow of the Academy since 2002, has over 30 years’ experience in the evolutionary history of marsupials and monotremes.

Bruce Armstrong speaking at a function in Copenhagen in 2011 Exposing the Sun's surprising role

Epidemiologist Bruce Armstrong is an international expert in public health, particularly on the causes and control of skin cancer. He has been Fellow of the Academy since 2000.

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