See how science can influence government policy by participating in Science meets Parliament (SmP) in early 2022.

Science & Technology Australia is Australia’s peak advocacy body for science and technology and as a member organisation, the AIP can sponsor two delegates (one early career researcher and regular attendee) to attend.

SmP will be a hybrid live and online gathering with events including:

·       28 February – 4 March: Online professional development for STA members (including AIP members)

·       2 March – National Press Club address by STA President Professor Mark Hutchinson.

·       7 March onward   – Meeting with parliamentarians.

·       2 June – All members of the nation’s science community are invited to dinner, which will use online technology to link up participants across eight capital cities.  Dinner in ACT is usually held at the Old Parliament House.

If you are interested in attending, please send an expression of interest to AIP Secretary Kirrily Rule at aip_secretary@aip.org.au by 30 November.

Please include: 

·       A CV, no longer than one page;

·       A statement, no longer than one page, indicating why you would like to attend and what you hope to gain from the experience.

The executive team will assess each application, taking into account gender balance, research area balance and geographic coverage. The AIP will cover registration of successful applications for the event.

More details: https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/what-we-do/science-meets-parliament/

We are saddened to hear of the recent passing of Australian physicist and AIP Fellow Professor Rodney (Rod) Jory AM.  Prof Jory was the inaugural winner of AIP’s Award for Outstanding Service to Physics in Australia in 1996.  He was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia the following year.

Prof Jory’s legacy in Australian physics includes establishing the National Science Summer School (renamed the National Youth Science Forum) in 1984 and being the director since its inception until 2005. He was also heavily involved in the teaching of Australian student teams that have competed at International Physics Olympiads.

AIP member Professor Tim Sneden (Director of ANU’s Research and Engineering) was among the 198 students who attended the first Summer School.

In his eulogy at Prof Jury’s funeral, Prof Sneden said: “Rod believed in empowering youth” and that “[Rod] worked tirelessly to evolve the program to reach as many young minds as he could”.

Ben Kremer, Chair of Australian Science Innovation (ASI), has also said on the ASI Twitter page: “I was fortunate enough to be taught by Rod in the Summer School in December 1989 and it was a formative event in my life. Rod’s passion, drive, hard work and selflessness will be sorely missed by all who knew him.”

Prof Jory completed his PhD studies on the drift velocities and diffusion coefficients of electrons in nitrogen, hydrogen and helium at the University of Adelaide and Australian National University (ANU). 

He was supervised by Professor Leonard Huxley, who was the first president of the AIP when it was established in 1963.

He taught at ANU and the University of Canberra as well as several international universities including the University of British Columbia.

An obituary will be included in the upcoming Australian Physics magazine.

Australia has secured representation in six commissions of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) after delegates attended the 30^th IUPAP General Assembly on 20-22 October.

Commissions promote the objectives of the IUPAP within their areas of expertise as well as providing advice to the Union on the activities and needs of the subfields of physics they represent.

The AIP, in coordination with the Australian Academy of Science’s National Committee for Physics, sent out a delegation to the virtual General Assembly that included Sven Rogge (UNSW, AIP President). Nicole Bell (UniMelb, AIP Vice President), Judith Dawes (Macquarie), and Jacinda Ginges (UQ).

That Australia is represented in six commissions is a good result since it is above the nominal representation of four positions.

The Australian commission members are:

• C11 – Particles and Fields - Nicole Bell (UniMelb)
• C14 – Physics Education - Manjula Sharma (USyd)
• C15 - Commission on Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics - Igor Bray (Curtin)
• C17 - Commission on Laser Physics and Photonics - Judith Dawes (Macquarie)
• C18 - Commission on Mathematical Physics - Jan de Gier (Uni Melbourne)
• C20 - Commission on Computational Physics - Derek Leinweber (Uni Adelaide)

More details on IUPAP commissions here.

Our membership renewal season starts 1 November. 

CURRENT MEMBERS

Renew now and you will receive $10 off your annual membership for 2022: https://aip.org.au/Renew.

Benefits include conference support, quarterly copies of Australian Physics magazine and reciprocal benefits with other physics societies.  

See our membership page for more membership benefits and fee descriptions: https://aip.org.au/Membership.

The $10 discount is an admin fee that will be automatically taken off each membership fee from 1 November till 31 January. 

NEW MEMBERS

New members joining from 1 November will have membership to 31 December of the current year, and all of the following calendar year, including a reduced membership rate for joining in the renewal season. 

For more membership benefits and fee descriptions, see our membership page. https://aip.org.au/Membership.

Join Australia's leading physicists today: https://aip.org.au/JOIN.

If you have any questions, or would like to pay over the phone, please call our Operations Manager on 0478 260 533 or email aip@aip.org.au. 

Registration is still open for the upcoming AIP Summer Meeting which will run from 6–9 December.

Advances in carbon materials, dark matter particle physics and quantum biotechnology are among the topics to be discussed in the Focused Sessions.

The conference features 20 keynote and invited speakers. Plenary talks will be given by Lidia Morawska (one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2021), Michael Fuhrer and Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop. 

Participants can attend in-person in Brisbane or online.

The full program and registration details are here.

AIP members are welcome to join and watch the Annual Postgraduate Awards event held by the NSW AIP Branch on Tuesday 9 Nov via Zoom from 2pm AEDT (Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney).

New fibre lasers, a deep-learning based analysis of the excess gamma-ray radiation at the Milky Way galaxy’s centre and detecting neutrinos in the sky are just some of the research topics being presented by seven top NSW physics students as they compete for the AIP NSW Postgraduate medal and Royal Society of NSW (RSNSW) Jak Kelly Prize.

The awards were created to foster excellence in physics postgraduate work and the presenting students were nominated by their respective universities based on their high standing. 

The students will be judged on scientific content and quality as well as clarity and presentation skills. The judging panel includes Prismatic Sciences’ Dr Jesse Shore, USYD’s Tibor Molnar, AIP NSW’s Dr Timothy Van de Laan and RSNSW’s Dr Erik Aslaksen.

The event is proudly supported by the AIP, RSNSW and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.

More details: https://www.aip.org.au/NSW-BRANCH/11572812

Zoom meeting link: https://aarnet.zoom.us/j/87483503215?pwd=MCt3WUIrdTBUWEhuVVhnUjJOSjJhUT09  

Password: 809165

Meeting ID: 874 8350 3215

The AIP congratulates Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann, and Giorgio Parisi who have jointly been awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physics.

One half of the prize went to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann, who pioneered climate models and linked them to measurements quantifying variability and reliably predicting global heating.

The other half went to Giorgio Parisi for his discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems that range from QCD to disordered solids and had a direct impact on understanding climate modes. Even though he did not directly work in climate science, he made urgent statements to tackle global warming.

This year's award showcases the role of physics as a fundamental enabling science , with meteorological measurements, climate modelling, and fundamental insights into complex systems coming together to have impact on one of the most important issues for our society.

Members will find the latest issue of Australian Physics in their inbox. The current and all past issues are also on the website.

In this issue:

• How online technologies might transform the future of physics lab work by Les Kirkup.
• The power and importance of science communication by Shane Huntington.
• The discovery of Apep, a new WR star system that breaks the rules by Joe Callingham.

The Australian Physicist (now Australian Physics), has been produced by the AIP since 1964 making it the oldest science magazine in Australia.

Editors Peter Kappen and David Hoxley are always on the hunt for material. Members are invited to submit: 

• 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.

Proposals and finished items can be sent to aip_editor@aip.org.au

After venturing over to the dark side in September, in October we are tackling the fine line between science and pseudo-science—and how can we tell the difference?

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

Next session is on Monday 27 October 2021 8pm-9.30pm AEDT

Further details and the all-important Zoom link: https://aip.org.au/ZiP.

TIME magazine has named Professor Lidia Morawska as one of their 100 Most Influential People of 2021.

Lidia is a Distinguished Professor at QUT and internationally recognised for her fundamental and applied research in the interdisciplinary field of air quality and its impact on human health and the environment.

She was also the 2002 AIP Women in Physics lecturer.

The TIME citation reads:

When trying to slow the spread of a fast-moving virus, it is essential to know how that virus is spread.

In the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists overestimated the potential for contaminated surfaces to spread the virus, and we underestimated how far the aerosol particles that people exhaled could travel and remain infectious.

It caused us to badly misjudge the risks in closed spaces where there was poor air circulation.

Through the fog of this viral war, some scientists saw clearly. Lidia Morawska stands out among peers for her work in recognizing the importance of aerosol transmission and marshaling the data that would convince the World Health Organization and other authoritative bodies to do the same.

She assembled a team of more than 200 scientists and public-health authorities to recognize the role of aerosols in spreading SARS-CoV-2 and change how we measure and lessen our risk of contracting the virus.

Her advocacy helped change practices everywhere from schools to workplaces, making these environments safer for more people around the world.

Read the profile here.