Academy of Science members announced

Seventeen of Australia’s leading scientists have been chosen to join the Australian Academy of Science.

Election to the academy recognises a career that has significantly advanced, and continues to advance, the world’s scientific knowledge.

The scientists work in a wide range of specialties, including: immune response to pathogens; physics of supernovae; photosynthesis; plasma physics; population dynamics of vertebrates; solvable lattice models; and mammalian embryonic development.

The 2008 Fellows, elected from Australian universities and medical research institutions, are:

• Prof Antony Bacic, School of Botany, University of Melbourne — distinguished for his work on the structure and biology of complex carbohydrates.
• Prof Murray Ronald Badger, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University (ANU) — distinguished for his work on photosynthetic CO₂ acquisition and metabolism.
• Prof Roderick William Boswell, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, ANU — distinguished for his work on basic and applied plasma physics.
• Prof William Ross Heath, Immunology Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research — distinguished for his work on the immune response to pathogens.
• Prof Nalini Joshi, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sydney — distinguished for her work on the mathematical structure of nonlinear integrable systems: complex analysis.
• Prof Peter Anthony Koopman, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland (UQ) — distinguished for his work on developmental biology, molecular genetics, SRY maleness gene.
• Prof David Bruce Lindenmayer, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, ANU — distinguished for his work on ecology: experimental and statistical analysis of the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of vertebrate populations.
• Prof Nicholas Martin, Queensland Institute of Medical Research — distinguished for his work on psychology: genetics of human behaviour and complex diseases.
• Prof John Stanley Mattick, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, UQ — distinguished for his work on the structure of genetic systems in higher organisms.
• Dame Bridget Ogilvie, Medical School Administration, University College London — distinguished for her work on parasitology, science administration, research and education.
• Prof Hugh O’Neill, Research School of Earth Sciences, ANU — distinguished for his work on mineral thermodynamics and experimental petrology.
• Prof Brian Paul Schmidt, Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Mount Stromlo Observatory, ANU — distinguished for his work on cosmology, physics of supernovae, gamma ray bursts and ‘Dark Energy’.
• Prof Patrick Ping Leung Tam, Embryology Unit, Children’s Medical Research Institute — distinguished for his work on mammalian embryonic development.
• Prof Geoffrey Tregear, Howard Florey Institute, University of Melbourne — distinguished for his work on peptide synthesis, the chemistry and biology of parathyroid hormone and relaxin family peptides.
• Prof Matthew Paul Wand, School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics, University of Wollongong — distinguished for his work on nonparametric function estimation.
• Prof Sven Ole Warnaar, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne — distinguished for his work on solvable lattice models, special functions, q-series and algebraic combinatorics.
• Prof Howard Mark Wiseman, Centre for Quantum Dynamics, Griffith University — distinguished for his work on quantum measurement and control theory.