The Winter Public Lectures honouring A & L McAulay 

The Tasmanian Branch of the Australian Institute of Physics, in collaboration with the School of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Tasmania is honoured to host a series of special Winter Lectures designed to interest members of the public and senior high school students.

The Series is presented in honour of two renowned Physics professors, Alexander and Leicester McAulay, who were inspiring teachers and did significant research at the University of Tasmania during its early years. 

Alexander McAulay was appointed to the University in 1893 at a time when resources were very tight.  Nevertheless, he undertook a formidable research and teaching program, publishing two internationally acclaimed books on Octonions and becoming an authority on most branches of physics. He was Professor of Mathematics and Physics from 1896 to June 1924, and a Research Professor in Mathematics between July 1924 and 1929. In 1930 Alexander McAulay became an Emeritus Professor. He has been instrumental in starting Engineering at the University. 

Alexander Leicester McAulay, his son, studied at Manchester and Cambridge in the UK, before taking over as Professor of Physics in Tasmania in 1929, remaining in that position till December 1959. Leicester McAulay was a man of great energy and diverse enthusiasms who sought applications of physics to environmental studies and biophysics, as well as stimulating research into optics and cosmic rays. These are two of the four branches of astronomy for which Tasmania has become well known. 

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