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25 Famous Australian Scientists and their Contributions

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The development of Australian science in pre-war era was dependent on the individual achievements of a few famous scientists. Several of the famous Australian scientists went abroad for better facilities, better payoffs and more recognition.

Throughout the last two decades, this situation has drastically changed. Appealing rewards have been given to Australian scientists, and research facilities have been greatly improved. What’s more, the great reputation of Australian scientific work is pulling in many foreign scientifics as well.

Today’s article talks about the most famous Australian scientists and inventors throughout history and their extraordinary contributions.

Elizabeth Blackburn

Elizabeth Blackburn

Biological researcher who helped discover an enzyme called telomerase.

Isobel Bennett

Isobel Bennett

Marine biologist and prolific author; also known for helping William John Dakin with his book Australian Seashores.

Dorothy Hill

Dorothy Hill

Geologist and researcher; best known for being the first female professor at an Australian university.

William Lawrence Bragg and William Henry Bragg

William Lawrence Bragg and William Henry Bragg

Father and son who successfully constructed the first X-ray spectroscope, revolutionizing the study of X-ray crystallography.

Frank Macfarlane Burnet

Frank Macfarlane Burnet

Virologist highly regarded for his contributions to immunology.

Graeme Clark

Graeme Clark

Doctor and researcher who helped develop the Bionic Ear.

Ian Clunies Ross

Ian Clunies Ross

Highly influential scientist who is also known as the “architect of Australia’s scientific boom”.

Peter C. Doherty

Peter C. Doherty

Veterinary surgeon known for his research in the field of medicine.

John Eccles

John Eccles

Neurophysiologist who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on the synapse; the junction between two neurons or a neuron and a muscle.

Frank Fenner

Frank Fenner

Virologist known for his work on the prevention of smallpox and the rabbit plague by introducing the Myxoma virus.

Fred Hollows

Fred Hollows

Ophthalmologist known for his extraordinary work that helped in restoring eyesight of thousands of people.

Bernard Katz

Bernard Katz

Biophysicist and Nobel laureate known for his work on nerve biochemistry.

Priscilla Kincaid-Smith

Priscilla Kincaid-Smith

Physician noted for her research work in nephrology.

Douglas Mawson

Douglas Mawson

Geologist and explorer who led the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

Mark Oliphant

Mark Oliphant

Physicist noted for his work that led to the first public demonstration of nuclear fusion.

Henry Harris

Henry Harris

Professor and researcher noted for his work on cancer and human genetics.

David Karoly

David Karoly

Researcher known for his work on climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion.

Bruce Edward Hobbs

Bruce Edward Hobbs

Structural geologist and a research fellow at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.

Basil Hetzel

Basil Hetzel

Nutritionist and researcher known for his work on combating iodine deficiency.

Alf Howard

Alf Howard

Researcher and explorer who is the last surviving participants of the expedition to Antarctica in 1929-1931.

John R. Philip

John R. Philip

Soil physicist highly regarded for his research work on the movement of water, energy and gases.

Albert Pugsley

Albert Pugsley

Agricultural scientist and highly influential wheat breeder.

John O. Limb

John O. Limb

Engineer and researcher who helped develop digital video communications.

W. A. S. Butement

W. A. S. Butement

Defence scientist best known for his extraordinary contributions in the development of radar in England during World War II.

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Comments

  1. Olivia says

    January 31, 2013 at 3:27 am

    Could you pleeaae include some more info beside the name and 1 thing please? Thx!

  2. random says

    May 10, 2013 at 3:53 am

    I reckon this website is really easy to use and great for looking for some pictures of people, but would be 1000000000000’s of times better if it actally had info about the people! I agree with OLIVIA

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John Eccles | Arthur Eddington | Thomas Edison | Paul Ehrlich | Albert Einstein | Gertrude Elion | Empedocles | Eratosthenes | Euclid | Leonhard Euler

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Ernesto Illy | Ernst Ising | Keisuke Ito

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Ernst Mach | Marcello Malpighi | Jane Marcet | Guglielmo Marconi | Lynn Margulis | James Clerk Maxwell | Ernst Mayr | Barbara McClintock | Lise Meitner | Gregor Mendel | Dmitri Mendeleev | Franz Mesmer | Antonio Meucci | Albert Abraham Michelson | Thomas Midgeley Jr. | Milutin Milankovic | Maria Mitchell | Mario Molina | Thomas Hunt Morgan | Samuel Morse | Henry Moseley

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Hans Christian Oersted | Georg Ohm | J. Robert Oppenheimer | Wilhelm Ostwald | William Oughtred

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Harriet Quimby | Thabit ibn Qurra

C. V. Raman | Srinivasa Ramanujan | William Ramsay | John Ray | Prafulla Chandra Ray | Francesco Redi | Sally Ride | Bernhard Riemann | Wilhelm Röntgen | Hermann Rorschach | Ronald Ross | Ibn Rushd | Ernest Rutherford

Carl Sagan | Abdus Salam | Jonas Salk | Frederick Sanger | Alberto Santos-Dumont | Walter Schottky | Erwin Schrödinger | Theodor Schwann | Glenn Seaborg | Hans Selye | Charles Sherrington | Gene Shoemaker | Ernst Werner von Siemens | George Gaylord Simpson | B. F. Skinner | William Smith | Frederick Soddy | Arnold Sommerfeld | Nicolas Steno | Nettie Stevens | William John Swainson | Leo Szilard

Niccolo Tartaglia | Edward Teller | Nikola Tesla | Thales of Miletus | Benjamin Thompson | J. J. Thomson | William Thomson | Henry David Thoreau | Kip S. Thorne | Clyde Tombaugh | Evangelista Torricelli | Charles Townes | Youyou Tu | Alan Turing | Neil deGrasse Tyson

Harold Urey

Craig Venter | Vladimir Vernadsky | Andreas Vesalius | Rudolf Virchow | Artturi Virtanen | Alessandro Volta

George Wald | Alfred Russel Wallace | Ernest Walton | James Watson | James Watt | Alfred Wegener | John Archibald Wheeler | Maurice Wilkins | Thomas Willis | E. O. Wilson | Sven Wingqvist | Sergei Winogradsky | Friedrich Wöhler | Wilbur and Orville Wright | Wilhelm Wundt

Chen-Ning Yang

Ahmed Zewail

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