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 Prime Minister's Science Prizes for 2011 Announced. (October 13, 2011)

The following material is taken principally from the joint media release by the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr.

The Prime Minister is pleased to announce this year’s Prize for Science has been awarded to Professors Ezio Rizzardo and David Solomon from the CSIRO and the University of Melbourne. The $300,000 prize recognises their work in reinventing polymer science by devising a means of custom building plastics and other polymers for plastic solar cells, drug delivery, paints, adhesives, lubricants and everything in between. Their techniques are employed in the laboratories and factories of DuPont, L’Oréal, IBM, 3M, Dulux and more than 60 other companies. Their work has been cited more than 12,000 times in the scientific literature and is integral to more than 500 patents.

The Malcolm McIntosh Prize ($50,000) for Physical Scientist of the Year has been awarded to  to Professor Stuart Wyithe of the University of Melbourne. Professor Wyithe's primary research interests lie in the field of quasar formation and reionisation in the early universe. In particular his interests lie in the evolution of the earliest galaxies and how this evolution may be studied with the next generation of radio telescopes. In addition he is interested in the field of gravitational lensing. Specifically, studies of quasar microlensing, and the statistical properties of gravitational lensing by galaxies.

The Prize for Life Scientist of the Year ($50,000) is awarded to Associate Professor Min Chen of the University of Sydney. Dr Chen in analysing the chlorophyll of  the cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) in Shark Bay  discovered last year that it utilises a different form of chlorophyll to plants and other bacteria. Called chlorophyll f, it is the first new discovered type of chlorophyll to have been found since 1943. From a practical viewpoint it is suggested her discovery has implications for solar energy and agriculture.

The Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools ($50,000) is awarded to Mrs Brooke Topelberg from Perth’s Westminster Primary School. Using puppets, a garden, boundless enthusiasm and an initial science budget of just $1,500 a year, she has bypassed language barriers, bringing science to migrant students and turning her school into Western Australia’s Science School of the Year in 2008. Last year Mrs Topelberg was Western Australian Primary Science Educator of the Year.

Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools ($50,000) is awarded to Dr Jane Wright, science co-ordinator at Adelaide’s Loreto College for leadership in her school and amongst her peers.  Dr Wright recently led her 26^th annual camp in the Flinders Ranges, introducing her students to ecology, landforms and Aboriginal knowledge. Her broader service has included presidency of both the South Australian and the Australian Science Teachers’ Associations.

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For more information about the science prizes click here.