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Science Frocks Up And Celebrates
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Glitz and glamour. Celebrities and bling. Not words usually associated with science. But last night, some of the best and brightest in Australian science swapped lab coats for posh frocks and suits to walk the red carpet at the award dinner for the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes - Australia's premier science awards.
Often likened to the "Oscar's of Australian Science", the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes reward outstanding achievements in Australian scientific research, leadership and innovation, communication and journalism and school science.
20 prizes worth over $200,000 were awarded to scientific leaders, innovative researchers, science educators, journalists and school kids in front of a ‘who's who' of Australian science, government, academia and industry.
Award highlights included:
Professor Robert Clarke's win of the CSIRO Eureka Prize for Science Leadership for his extraordinary dedication to making Australia a world-leader in quantum computing, a technology that experts say will change the face of civilisation;
The inaugural ABRS Eureka Prize for Taxonomic Research awarded to Dr Bill Humphreys for his discoveries and work on large quantities of remarkably diverse microscopic creatures in the most unexpected place on earth, the subterranean waters of north Western Australia;
WA's Microelectronics Research Group winning the DSTO Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Support of Defence or National Security. Their microspectrometer sensing technology will save soldiers lives by bringing colour vision to infrared ‘night vision' technology, with wider applications in medicine and environmental monitoring;
The Multiple Sclerosis Group, a team of twenty-six researchers from the Howard Florey Research Institute, winning the Eureka Prize for Medical Research for their extraordinary contribution towards finding potential treatments for sufferers of multiple sclerosis (MS).
And crowd favourite, five year old Aydin Neighbour - the youngest ever Eureka prize entrant - for his highly commended short video in the University of Sydney Sleek Geeks Science Prize in which he discovers the joy and science of volcanoes.
"The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are all about recognising and rewarding the important work our scientists do" says Frank Howarth, Director of the Australian Museum. "The annual award dinner provides the sector with a well deserved chance to also have some serious fun."
Click here for information on all prize winners.
Next year marks the 20th Anniversary of the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes. Details of special events being planned to commemorate the occasion will be released early next year.
