Royal Society of NSW News & Events

The Governor of New South Wales, Her Excellency The Honourable Margaret Beazley AO QC, has now formally agreed to be the Patron of the Society. 

The Royal Society of NSW is pleased to acknowledge Fellows and Members of the Society who receive awards in the Queen’s Birthday honours list. Recipients in the 2019 list include: Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) Emeritus Professor Leo Radom AC FRSN, for eminent service to science, particularly to computational chemistry, as an academic, au...

Tom Kenneally and others pre-dinner The President greets the Governor Sir Anthony Mason is presented with his Distinguished Fellowship certificate Emma Johnston receives the Clarke Medal Earnest dinner conversation between Ian Wilkinson and Marian Kernahan The Distinguished Fellow's address is given by Michelle Simmons Nalini Joshi delivers the vot...

University of Cambridge Professor Herbert Huppert FRS FRSN is giving a public lecture at Sydney University on Wednesday 17 April. Understanding carbon in the air: can we avert a climate catastrophe? The event is free, but registration is necessary.

Noel Hush, one of our inaugural Fellows (and Distinguished Fellow) died on Wednesday 20 March, following a heart attack.  He was 94. Professor Hush was a chemist of international standing.  After graduating from the University of Sydney in the late 1940s and after completing a couple of years there as a research fellow, he took up various...

The 152nd AGM will be held prior to the OGM on Wednesday 3 April 2019 at the State Library of NSW, Shakespeare Place, Sydney.  As part of the AGM, the election of candidates to Council will be held.  Polling will open at 5.30 pm and close at 6.15 pm.  There are 12 candidates for 10 positions as Councillors; the list of candidates is ...

Immediate past-President Brynn Hibbert is the winner of the first round of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute's competition for stories about the periodic table, run as part of the International Year of the Periodic Table.  You can read his story about Sir Humphry Davy and the discovery of iodine here.

The following letter by our President, Emeritus Professor Ian Sloan AO, was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday 4 March 2019 under the above headline (which was the main letters headline for the day). “The Royal Society of NSW, Australia’s oldest scientific and cultural organisation, applauds the recommendation of the Upper House’s Par...

Australia Day honours have been awarded to the following: Jillian Broadbent AO FRSN, elevated to AC Leonard Fisher FRSN, appointed OAM (Barney) Bevil Milton Glover FRSN, appointed AO Adrian Hibberd FRSN, appointed AM Robert Bain Thomas AM FRSN, elevated to AO If you know of any Members or Fellows we have missed, please email the Royal Society at ro...

Professor Mark Compton FRSN has been announced as the next Lord Prior of the Order of St John, also known as St John International.  The Order is devoted to the relief of sickness and injury, receiving a royal charter from Queen Victoria in 1888.  It is perhaps best known in Australia for St John Ambulance.

Emeritus Professor John Carter AM FRSN and Professor Mark Hoffman FRSN have been appointed by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment to investigate the structural integrity of the Opal Tower apartment building at Homebush.  We wish them speedy success. (Following initial investigations, Professor Stephen Foster was also engaged to assi...

The Society's awards for 2018 (Clarke Medal, Edgeworth David Medal, History & Philosophy of Science Medal, James Cook Medal, Poggendorff Lecture and RSNSW Scholarship) were announced by the President at the OGM on 5 December. Full details are available here.

Government House and group outside Anne Williamson and Phil Waite Ian Wilkinson and others in lecture President with Brian and Brynn Louise Young Virginia Judge Mary-Anne Williams lecturing

Professor Nalini Joshi AO FRSN has been elected Vice-President of the International Mathematical Union, from the start of 2019. She becomes the first Australian to hold this position.  Besides being a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW, Professor Joshi is a member of its governing Council.

Two of our members have recently been elected as Fellows of the prestigious Royal Society of London. They are Michelle Simmons DistFRSN (who is already Australian of the Year) and Graeme Jameson FRSN from the University of Newcastle. And recently elected FRSN Veena Sahajwalla has just been elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. W...

At the 151st AGM held on 4 April 2018, Emeritus Scientia Professor Ian Sloan AO FRSN was installed as President of the Society.  As Professor Sloan was overseas and unable to attend the meeting, he addressed the audience in a video.  The text of his address is given here. If you are seeing this video, then I must have been elected as Pres...

The Society's annual RSNSW and Four Academies Forum took place on 29 November last, hosted by His Excellency the Governor of New South Wales at Government House.  The abstracts of the presentations can be accessed here.

In accordance with the Society's rules, the list of candidates is displayed here. The election took place at the annual general meeting on Wednesday 4 April 2018 at the Union University & Schools Club, 25 Bent Street, Sydney.  Polling opened at 5.30pm and closed at 6.15pm. The results of the election were as follows. Aslaksen Erik Councill...

The Council of the Society is pleased to announce that it has reached agreement with the Board of the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts (SMSA) to establish a strategic partnership. This partnership reflects the similar heritage of the two organisations and their commitment to advancing knowledge and engaging with the broadest possible audience in Ne...

The Royal Society of NSW supported the March for Science held on 22 April. For more details about the March go to its website here At its Council meeting of 15th March the Society passed the following motion: The Society supports the principles upon which the “March for Science” is based and encourages Fellows and Members of the Society to particip...