For excellence in physics research as well as clear and engaging presentation skills, Joe Zhiyu Chen (UNSW) and Zain Medhi (ANU) have won the 2021 AIP NSW branch Postgraduate Physics Award and Royal Society for NSW Jak Kelly Award, respectively.

The awards were based on the online student presentations given on 9 November from the top physics postgraduate students nominated by each NSW university.

Joe Zhiyu Chen’s talk explained how he was using supercomputing to model galaxy distribution in the presence of neutrino masses.

Zain Mehdi’s presented his work on modelling two types of thermal energy loss during turbulence in quantum fluids.

The other contenders were awarded AIP NSW Postgraduate Excellence Certificates in recognition of nomination by their universities based on their high standing. They included Sobia Rehman (Macquarie Uni), Florian List (USYD), Matthew James (UNE), Simon White (UTS), and Ankit Shrestha (University of Wollongong).

The AIP NSW branch also wishes to congratulate Philip Mai (UNSW) and Bailey Thompson (University of Wollongong) for winning the 2021 Best Graduating Student Prizes. The prizes recognise their clearly outstanding work in their undergraduate Physics programs.

Lastly, ‘Drones, Droids and Robots’ was the theme of this year’s projects in contention for the AIP NSW Most Outstanding Physics K-12 Prizes and Science Teachers Association of NSW Young Scientist Awards.

First prize for ‘Automated Hand Injury Assessment and Treatment Device (MedLab)’ went to Yasiru Puhule-Gamayalag (Cherrybrook Technology High School). ‘Remote Control Raft Cleaner’ by Max Zhao (Barker College) won second prize. Thaddeus Candra (Redeemer Baptist School) was given third prize for ‘The Mars Ninja Warrior Conquers Mount Midoriyama’.

Have your say about running the AIP, Australia’s largest voluntary organisation dedicated to promoting the role of physics in research, education, industry, and the community.

AIP members are invited to attend the upcoming 2022 AIP Annual General Meeting.

It will be held online via Zoom on 15 Feb, 6-7 pm AEDT.

Update: If you are an AIP member, you should have received an email on 14 Jan with the Zoom link to join the meeting.

Please register your attendance by responding to the email invite, or email aip@aip.org.au if you haven't received it.  

Other agenda items include business arising from the minutes, the President’s and Treasurer’s reports, and appointment of the Auditor.

Our hybrid online 2021 AIP Summer Meeting (6-9 Dec) is starting soon!

Promote your talks and share your experiences on social media using #AIPSummer21.

On-site registration for attendees in Brisbane begins Mon 6 Dec at 1 pm.

Besides focused sessions on the latest physics research (Tues 7 Dec – Thurs 9 Dec) and a poster session (Tues 7 Dec, 5-6 pm), here’s a summary of special events so you don’t miss out.

Note that all times listed are in AEST (Brisbane time).

• Learn to pitch and communicate your research at the Pitchmasters! workshop session (Mon 6 Dec, 2-4 pm).

• Watch the first Plenary Lecture by Distinguished Prof Lidia Morawska on The Physics of Respiratory Particle Generation, Fate in the Air and Inhalation (Tues 7 Dec, 9-10 am).

• Attend the Quantum Technology Workshop, a special meeting of the Australian Army and Australian Quantum Technology community (Tues 7 Dec, 1-3 pm). 

• Watch the second Plenary Lecture by Prof Michael Fuhrer on Topological Materials for Low-energy Electronics (Wed 8 Dec, 9-10 am).

• Learn about Online Assessments in Physics before and during the COVID19 Pandemic in the Education Workshop I (Wed 8 Dec, 10.30 am-12 pm).

• PhD students and postdocs can find out about Active Learning Techniques for teaching physics in the Education Workshop II (Wed 8 Dec, 3.30-5 pm).

•  Watch the final Plenary Lecture by Prof Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop on From Show-Pony to Work Horse: Expanding Applications of Structured Light (Thur 9 Dec, 9-10 am).

•   Watch ECRs, entrepreneurs, Army soldiers and officers pitch solutions that help conceal our soldiers from the looming threat of detection by ultra-precise quantum sensors during the Quantum Next Generation 2021 and Quantum Camouflage Challenge 2021 Pitchfest (Thur 9 Dec 1-3 pm).

Full program here and abstract booklet here. We look forward to catching up with you in person or online.

The Australian physics community has suffered another great loss with the recent passing of Emeritus Professor Anthony (Tony) Klein AM FAA.

He served as AIP President from 1989 to 1991, was joint recipient of the 1990 AIP Walter Boas Medal for excellence in physics research in Australia, and an AIP Honorary Fellow.

Prof Klein was an internationally recognised physicist in the field of neutron optics.

Having completed a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and his PhD degrees at the University of Melbourne, he returned in 1965 as a senior lecturer in the School of Physics. He eventually became the Head of the School of Physics (1987-1996) and held a Personal Chair in Physics until his retirement in 1998.

Prof Klein’s research legacy includes significant fundamental experimental studies in quantum physics using beams of slow neutrons. Together with the late Professor Geoffrey Opat, he developed the technique of neutron interferometry and used it to demonstrate that the wave function of a spin-1/2 particle changes sign when the particle is rotated by 360 degrees. His work earned him a shared ‘R&D 100’ Award for “developing one of the 100 most technologically significant products of the year 1995”.  

He was not only a talented teacher, but a great science communicator. He wrote reports for the ABC and provided commentary on the first moon landing during the live broadcast of the event on Australian TV, as well as for the following Apollo 12 and 13 missions.

He also generously gave his time to serve as President of the Australian Optical Society in 1985-86 (now Australian & New Zealand Optical Society or ANZOS) and was Chair of several committees, including the Standards Advisory Committee of the CSIRO National Measurement Laboratories (1985-1995), Research Committee of the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (1991-2010), and Beam Instrument Advisory Committee for OPAL (1997-2007). A Life Member of ANZOS, he won its Beattie Steele Medal in 2016.

For his significant contributions to Australian Physics, Prof Klein was named a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1994 and was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in 1999.

On a personal front, Prof Klein was known to be a memorable character with a “great sense of humour and a seemingly infinite supply of jokes”, according to the Australian Academy of Science’s tribute to him on social media.

Many other personal tributes have been posted, including ones from science communicator Dr Shane Huntington OAM: “Many memories of Tony. Nobody taught me optics as well as he did.” and from Prof Deb Kane (Macquarie University): “Profs Klein and Opat were a great duo at AIP congresses. Big and positive personalities.”

Vale Tony.

Image credit: Australian Academy of Science.

The Australian physics community is saddened by the recent passing of 2020 AIP Fellow Professor Les Kirkup after a short illness.

His contribution to Australian physics education was outstanding and recognised with a 2014 AIP Education medal.

Prof Kirkup was an enthusiastic teacher of physics at the higher education level. Originally from the UK, he joined the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) as a lecturer in 1990 and was one of the first to complete its Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching and Learning.

He was known for his passion for inquiry-based learning of physics, both in laboratories and lectures. This was born of his awareness that students were unsatisfied with ordinary lectures and with following step-by-step lab experiments. So, instead, he advocated interactive, practical lectures. He also encouraged first-year physics students to design and conduct experiments of their own right from the start.

In 2011, Prof Kirkup’s work on inquiry-oriented learning was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council. Together with former AIP President and current Australian Chief Scientist Cathy Foley, he developed a program that enabled undergraduate students to become familiar with the work and research of CSIRO since, in Prof Kirkup’s words, “the next generation of scientists needs to be introduced to new ideas and innovative ways of thinking as early as possible”.

Other recognitions of his work include a Carrick Associate Fellowship in 2007 and UTS Medal for Teaching and Research Integration in 2012. Prof Kirkup also wrote many popular textbooks on experimental methods and data analysis.

After retiring in 2016, Professor Kirkup was still active and committed to improving physics education. Recently, he wrote blogs on the value of peer review for students (here and here).  His recommendations for teaching online physics labs under difficult COVID19 pandemic conditions were featured in the most recent edition of Australian Physics magazine.

Several personal tributes to Prof Kirkup have been posted on social media, including from Prof Geoffrey Crisp, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Canberra. He said:

“Les was such a genuine person and had that quiet passion for making things better for students. His sense of humour, humility and generosity of spirit will be remembered by all those that knew him. Our thoughts are with your family Les and we will miss your company and insights.”

Vale Les.

• AIP NSW Awards Presentation luncheon Friday 3 December 2021 at 12pm.

Quantum physicist and passionate science communicator Professor Andrea Morello has been awarded the 2021 AIP NSW award for Community Outreach to Physics.

Prof Morello is a Scientia Professor at UNSW and a Program Manager at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T). 

He is an international leader in the field of quantum computing, having published foundational observational studies of the first electron quantum bit, first nuclear quantum bit and nuclear electric resonance in the journal Nature.

Prof Morello was given the award for being a relentless advocate of physics outreach in Australia.

His achievements include creating popular YouTube video series (with over 10 million views) on explaining quantum computing, building quantum computers and quantum phenomena in the world around us.

Prof Morello has also contributed to several popular science initiatives to engage students and the younger public. These include the National Youth Science Festival, World Science Festival and featuring in the ABC Science ‘elevator’ pitch series.

He has further engaged the fields of visual and literary arts to reach wider audiences. He has developed visual art based on quantum bits and chaos in collaboration with Prof Paul Thomas (UNSW Art & Design).

Together with writer Bernard Cohen and funded by Writing NSW, Prof Morello is assisting NSW schools to develop experiential learning activities that combine science and creative writing.

On the academic front, he also led the development and launch of the world’s first bachelor’s degree in Quantum Engineering at UNSW.

Other recognition of his work includes being awarded the 2013 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year.

We congratulate Prof Morello and thank him for his passion for physics and tireless work. We look forward to seeing him at our AIP NSW Awards Presentation luncheon at the Concord Golf Club on Friday 3 December 2021 at 12pm.

Information contributed by Dr Fred Osman.

As reported by the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science.

Exciton Science researchers have used tin mono-sulfide (SnS) nanosheets to create the thinnest X-ray detector ever made, potentially enabling real-time imaging of cellular biology.

SnS has already shown great promise as a material for use in photovoltaics, field effect transistors and catalysis.

Now, members of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science, based at Monash University and RMIT University, have shown that SnS nanosheets are also excellent candidates for use as soft X-ray detectors.

Their research, published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, indicates that SnS nanosheets possess high photon absorption coefficients, allowing them to be used in making ultrathin soft X-ray detectors with high sensitivity and a rapid response time.

Read the full media release here.

As reported by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav).

An international team of scientists, including Australian researchers from the ARC OzGrav have collaborated on a study released earlier this month, presenting the largest number of gravitational wave detections to date - 90 detections!

Gravitational waves are cosmic ripples in space and time that are caused by some of the most violent and energetic processes in the Universe, like supernovas, merging black holes and colliding neutron stars--city-size stellar objects with a mass about 1.4 times that of the Sun.

The newest gravitational wave detections come from the second part of the third observing run which lasted from November 2019 to March 2020. There were 35 new gravitational wave detections in this period: 32 detections were from pairs of merging black holes; 3 were likely to come from the collision of a neutron star and a black hole.

Read the full media release here.

Ever wondered how Santa manages to deliver so many presents in just one night? Or how the big guy makes it down the chimney? How about his magic reindeer?

Tune into a special zOOm into Physics where we try to tackle these questions and more through the lens of the laws of Physics.

zOOm into Physics is a monthly lightly-moderated zoom conversation with our resident panel and special guests.

Wednesday 24 November, 8pm-9.30pm AEDT

Further details and zoom link: https://aip.org.au/ZiP

Members are invited to submit content for the Jan-Mar 2022 edition of Australian Physics. The deadline for content is 1 December.

We welcome: 

• pitches for articles describing current research
• physics-themed cartoons
• reviews of physics-themed books (they might even get the book for you!)
• physics poetry
• obituaries of recently passed members.

Australian Physics magazine has been produced by the AIP since 1964 and is the oldest science magazine in Australia.

Previous magazines can be found here and here.

Proposals and finished items can be sent to editors Peter Kappen and David Hoxley on aip_editor@aip.org.au.