The Tasmanian
Branch has had an active, interesting and at times frustrating year, supporting
six public lectures, the teachers' seminar, schools' quiz, and promoting Physics
in an environment of cut-backs. Ten
committee meetings have been held since the last AGM.
Dr
Michelle Simmons delivered AIP 'Women in Physics' public lectures on "Nanotechnology:
Physics, chemistry and biology unite at the ultra-small scale" in
Launceston (2nd September) and Hobart (4th September). The Hobart talk was well
attended, but the combination of a clash with the AFL Grand Final and poor
weather resulted in poor attendance in Launceston. This was the third year of
our attempt to bring some interesting Physics to students and the general public
in Launceston. I note my appreciation of the assistance of Martin George and the
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery for supporting our efforts in Launceston
over these years. I am hopeful that we can continue to promote at least one talk
in Launceston annually, but I advocate adopting an approach of presenting the
talk at a College during school hours, and inviting other College students to
attend. We have already planned a similar approach for a Hobart 'student talk'.
I specifically thank Elizabeth Chelkowska for her considerable efforts in
getting the 'Women in Physics' lectures arranged this year.
Public
lectures this year have been "The future of thermoelectric
refrigeration" by Emeritus Professor Julian Goldsmid (24th May), "The
TIGER Radar and its role in Space Weather Studies" by Professor Peter Dyson
(29th May), "Australian Climate Variations - forecasts and the oceans"
by Dr Stuart Godfrey (14th June) and "X- and Gamma-Ray Astronomy: European
Space Initiatives" by Professor Ruediger Staubert (5th October). Tonight's
talk "Civilisation Transformed: The Imapct of Quantum Mechanics" will
be presented by Professor Geoff Opat. I
note my appreciation of lecturers who give freely of their time and wisdom, the
Physics group at the University for the support of these functions by allowing
us to utilize their facilities, and specifically note the support of Ian Newman
and Bob Delbourgo in facilitating our use of those facilities.
For
the third year we have been able to schedule the Branch AGM with a members'
Dinner and a Public Lecture. I hope this approach can continue and I thank
Elizabeth Chelkowska for arranging the Dinner and Bob Delbourgo for his efforts
in arranging the talk by Professor Opat.
We
continue to make specific efforts to promote Physics within the schools. All
southern colleges are notified by mail-out about our Public Talks, but I am
hopeful that our new initiative of promoting talks at the Colleges during school
hours will enable us to reach a larger audience. This year we have prepared and
distributed a brochure promoting "Physics Opportunities" in Tasmania.
I believe that Southern Tasmania is fortunate to have a number of excellent
Physics-based research groups which are promoted in the brochure, copies of
which are made available. It has been pleasing to hear the Tasmanian government
boasting the fact that Hobart has more scientists per population that any other
Australian capital city; at least they appear to view that as something
positive. Despite this local advantage, the discipline of Physics is facing
considerable pressures both locally and throughout Australia. I will return to
this issue, after concluding description of our activities.
The
8th Annual Physics Quiz for year 11 and 12 students was held this year at
Launceston Church Grammar School on the 9th of September. Thirteen teams of
three or four students from around the state competed for medals and prizes. We
received much appreciated sponsorship from Comalco, the Australian Antarctic
Division, CSIRO Marine Science, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery and
the Bureau of Meteorology for this promotion.
There is a lot of work involved in staging the Quiz and I am grateful to
all who enthusiastically assisted. All committee members contributed massively
either on the day of the Quiz and/or in preparing for it, but I would like to
specifically thank those outside the AIP for their contribution. Adrian Cooper
arranged access to Launceston Church Grammar School facilities when our initial
venue could not accommodate a necessary date change. Judy Whelan again provided
valuable assistance in chasing up schools and preparing certificates. Martin
George gave freely of his time to open the Quiz.
We continue to receive excellent feed-back from teachers for the Quiz and
if we can maintain our commitment it will remain an interesting and valuable day
for the students.
The
annual AIP/RACI professional development seminar for Tasmanian year 11/12
physics and chemistry teachers was held in Launceston, and the 'Physics Day' was
on the 6th December 99. These seminars provide Physics and Chemistry teachers with
interesting talks on some local research topics, and provide a forum for
discussion of issues of concern and for sharing strategies that have worked in
the classroom. Ian Newman continues to facilitate the Branch's association with
this excellent annual meeting and I thank him for his efforts.
Peter Jarvis gave a presentation on the quantum hall effect,
Elizabeth Chelkowska provided feed-back on the Quiz results and I spoke
on the aurora and its up-coming viewing opportunities (which have not been as
extensive as I believed likely). This years seminar is being held in Hobart,
principally organised by RACI (passed onto the Chemistry Department), but with
Ian again carrying the AIP organisational workload.
I
thank Marc Duldig for his on-going efforts in ensuring that our Branch
activities are reported in "The Physicist". Tasmania appears regularly
in the Branch News section solely because of the efforts of Marc.
Ian
Newman has maintained and expanded the Branch web site at:
www.phys.utas.edu.au/physics/AIP_TasBranch
The web site contains information on upcoming talks, reports on branch
activities and policy details. Additional it now contains the questions (not
answers!) from the latest Quiz, an initiative proposed at the 1999 AGM, and
profiles of Tasmanian Physicists have been added.
Steve
Newbery re-invigorated a needed discussion on the 'value for money' of AIP
membership with an article in 'The Physicist'.
We
have provided some financial support for the Tasmanian Science Talent Quest, the
Don College Science Playoff and for the Physics third year prize.
We also supported "Switched on Science" and continue to support
Tasmanian participation in the Science Olympiads via the Royal Society of
Tasmania.
John
Humble advises that, "Audit documents for years 1995 to 2000 were handed to
the Auditor, Mr Rendall Rydge of Max Peck and Associates, in early October.
At that time they were promised back on October 24th.
Mr Rydge indicated on October 30th that other work load had prevented him
from attending to the AIP documents thus far." We continue to maintain the
committee minutes in such a way the financial commitments made and concluded are
consolidated near the beginning facilitating understanding of our finances.
There
is a considerable amount of volunteer work associated with our activities and I
thank all committee members for their generous assistance.
I specifically thank John Humble for taking the work-load associated with
National Council meetings while I have been Branch Chairman I pay particular
tribute to Andrew Klekociuk who is not seeking to continue on the committee next
year. Andrew has contributed significantly over the years particularly with his
efforts to carry the organisational burden of the Quiz for a number of years. He
has been a willing volunteer throughout his time on the committee. Andrew is
presently at Davis, Antarctica, deploying the exciting Doppler-Rayleigh lidar
and will focus his efforts in the immediate future on getting that world-class
instrument performing optimally.
I
have enjoyed my time as Branch Chairman and am heartened by the volunteer
efforts of our committee, and the support that we have received. I particularly
thank Steve Newbery who has been Branch Secretary these past years for his work
and in providing both ideas and feed-back on mine.
With certainty, there are exciting times ahead and I wish the new Branch
Chair enjoyment and success.
Gary
Burns
Chair, AIP Tasmanian Branch