Dear {Contact_First_Name}, |
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Happy New
Year. I hope you’ve had a good break.
We finished
2021 with a fantastic hybrid Summer meeting with record attendance. There were also further issues
with the ARC (more on that below). But first, some good news.
Bruce McKellar
and Marc Duldig were recognised with AIP Awards for their Outstanding Service to Physics in Australia.
Katarina
Miljkovic (Curtin University) will be our 2022 Women In Physics Lecturer. Dates and
locations will be announced soon.
Congratulations
to all, and those who have won our AIP Medals!
It was also
great to see good representation of Australian science in the 2022 Australia Day Honours.
Sadly, however,
our valued member Mike
Gore, who founded Questacon, passed away this January.
Last year, the
ARC released the results of the Discovery Program on Christmas Eve. There was
an even bigger disruption to the process in addition to the massive delays and
yet unknown deadlines of the next round.
The acting Education
Minister withheld six grants, all in the humanities, arguing that they do
not represent sufficient value for taxpayers. His action was based on the
National Interest Test that is not part of the peer review process nor subject
to evaluation by the College of Experts. The independent process already
directly assesses applications for their scientific merit, value, and strategic
alignment for Australia. It is shocking to see the allocation of all
research funds outside the medical sphere being politicised to the degree we
currently experience in Australia.
To this end, we
recently wrote a statement and open letter to protest the veto of ARC grants by the
acting Education Minister. We join the Royal Australian Chemical
Institute (RACI), Statistical Society of Australia (SSA), Astronomical Society
of Australia (ASA), and Australian Mathematical Society (AustMS) in protesting
this issue.
On that note, we hope to
see you at our
AGM,
which will be held via Zoom. Please have a read of our updated constitution for voting before you attend.
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An impact of planetary proportions
2022 Women in Physics Lecturer is Assoc Prof Katarina Miljkovic ‘Impact physics in planetary science’ is the title of the
proposed public lectures to be given around Australia by Lectureship winner, Associate
Professor Katarina Miljkovic (Curtin University). Prof Miljkovic is a planetary scientist with expertise in
numerical and experimental impact physics and a passionate advocate for
studying science. Read more here.
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Outstanding Service to Physics
Prof Bruce McKellar & Dr Marc DuldigFor their exceptional contributions to the furtherance of
Physics as a discipline, Professor Bruce McKellar (University of Melbourne) AC
FAIP and Dr Marc Duldig (University of Tasmania) FAIP were recognised with a
2021 AIP Award for Outstanding Service to Physics in Australia.
Among their many acts of service, Prof McKellar was a
founding member of the Australian Research Council while Dr Duldig served as
AIP President, Vice President and Treasurer.
Read more here.
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Congratulations to our 2021 AIP Medal Winners
We are thrilled to announce the following winners of our
competitive Medals:
- 2021 Walter Boas Medal – Professor Howard
Wiseman (Griffith University) for his work on elucidating fundamental limits
arising from quantum theory.
- 2021 Bragg Gold Medal – Dr Timothy Gray (ANU) for the most outstanding PhD thesis.
- 2021 TH Laby Medal - Ethan Payne (Monash University) for the
best Honours or Masters thesis.
A very big thank you also to the 2019-2021
selection panel members. Read more here.
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Quantum computers in the news
Australian physicists working with international
collaborators have made two great steps forward in silicon quantum computer
technology.
A team led by former AIP President Professor David Jamieson
(University of Melbourne) perfected a technique for embedding single atoms in a
silicon wafer one-by-one. Read more here.
Another team led by Professor Andrea Morello (UNSW)
demonstrated that near error-free quantum computing in silicon is possible. He
won the 2021 AIP NSW Award for Community Outreach. Read more here.
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Renew your AIP membership now
Hurry and renew before your AIP 2022 membership fee goes up
on 3 Feb by clicking here.
Benefits
include conference support, quarterly copies of Australian Physics magazine,
and reciprocal benefits with other physics societies.
For more information on
AIP membership fees, see here.
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More news
- AIP Summer Meeting 2021 was the most attended to date and achieved a diverse representation of participants.
- Vale Prof Mike Gore (ANU) AO: physicist, passionate science educator, and Questacon founder. He was our 2001 AIP Outstanding Service to Physics in Australia winner.
- Cancelled: the 45th Annual Condensed Matter and Materials Meeting at Wagga Wagga will no longer be held in Feb 2022 due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation. We hope to reschedule for early 2023. Details here.
- Do you or someone have at least a physics undergraduate degree, and have had an unexpected career path? Share your story with us by nominating for #PhysicsGotMeHere.
- Our monthly
lighthearted zOOm into Physics online discussions are back on for 2022! Check our ZiP page for upcoming
sessions.
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New edition of Australian Physics available online
The boundary of chaos, optical metasurfaces, AIP Vice President Prof Nicole Bell on the AIP's advocacy on the ARC's no-preprint rule, and the difference between weight and mass for young physicists. Members can read these stories online by logging in. Got an idea for content? How to submit, here.
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Australian physics in the news
- Mysterious object unlike anything astronomers have seen before (COSMOS)
- In a historic milestone, silicon quantum computing just exceeded 99% accuracy (Science Alert)
- Building a silicon quantum computer chip atom by atom (PhysOrg)
- Australian Research Council backs downs to angry scientists (The Australian)
- Seeking answers to the universe deep in a gold mine (NPR)
- Einstein’s theory holds up after 16-year test (news.com.au)
- These 40 young researchers are rising stars, leaders of the future (COSMOS)
- Defence scrambles to train nuclear scientists for ‘exciting roles’ on AUKUS program (ABC News)
- Black hole eruption spanning 16 times the full Moon in the sky is spotted by astronomers 12 million light years away (Daily Mail)
- Physicists turn to TikTok for science communication (Physics Today)
- ANU scientists create first rocket powered by… mothballs (About Regional)
- Aussie advance in quantum battery reality (7News)
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Lecturer / Senior Lecturer |
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Do you have teaching experience, a PhD in physics and a
track record in research on solar cells, quantum technology, 2D Materials or
similar?
Continuing position as full-time Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Condensed Matter Physics available at Flinders University. The ideal candidate will produce
high quality research and deliver undergraduate and/or postgraduate teaching. Details here. Applications close 4 Feb.
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Multiple
PhD scholarship opportunities |
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Multiple PhD scholarship opportunities are available for
eligible, outstanding students in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane.
If you are finishing your undergraduate training and
thinking of pursuing a PhD program, apply for a project with FLEET to perform
high impact research, build the future of electronics, and train to be a science leader.
Submit your Expression of Interest here.
Applications always open.
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CSIRO is advertising for eight physicists. See here for these and many other jobs online including Physics Teacher, Climate Modeller and Superconductor
Theoretician.
We can provide a free link to your physics-related job or
PhD opportunity. If you would like to advertise your job, we can feature more
details and a picture for a small cost. Email Kirrily Rule for
more information.
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Thank you to our supporters
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Our
mailing address is:
Australian Institute of Physics
PO Box 480 West Ryde 1685 NSW Australia
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Thank
you for supporting the AIP.
If
you have retired, or require financial assistance please contact, aip@aip.org.au or 0478 260 533.
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