Peter Pockley, Dead at 78. (August 15, 2013)

Peter Pockley was the doyen of Australia's scientific journalists, and when warranted an outstanding investigative journalist as demonstrated by his series on the inner working of CSIRO when Geoffrey Garrett was Chief Executive.

Dr Pockley (he earned his PhD in geology from Oxford), got his Bachelor of Science at The University of Melbourne with a first-class Honours in chemistry. Thereafter a Diploma of Education (again first-class Honours). He went on to teach science at Melbourne Grammar before going to Oxford.

It was 1964 that he took on science reportage and in fact became the Nation's first full time science scribe - becoming the founding Head of Science Programs at the ABC. There he set up the Science Unit for TV and Radio.

As noted in Australasian Science's vale: Pockley's contribution to science journalism was recognised beyond our shores. In 1994 he was made the only Australian Life Member of the American National Association of Science Writers, and in 2007 he was inducted into the Science Journalism Laureates Program at Purdue University.

In 2010 he was awarded the Australian Academy of Science Medal, which is awarded to a person who is not an Academy Fellow but has significantly advanced the cause of science and technology in Australia. Pockley was only the seventh winner in its 20-year history, and the only journalist.

Not just Australian science journalism but Australian Science are the poorer for his loss. He died at home, August 11, 2013.