Science

The Web of Science: The Scientific Correspondence of the Rev. W.B. Clarke, Australia’s Pioneer Geologist (2 Volumes) edited by Ann Moyal

August 2004, no. 263

The leading early geologist in Australia was Reverend William Branwhite Clarke (1798–1878). His father was a blind schoolmaster in a Suffolk village, and the family was not well off. Still, they managed to send William to Jesus College, Cambridge, where he studied to enter the church. During his time as a student, he came under the influence of the redoubtable professor of geology Adam Sedgwick and took up geology seriously. Nevertheless, he became a clergyman and held a series of minor ecclesiastical positions, besides teaching at his father’s old school for a period. He also undertook geological studies, was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society and published a number of (fairly minor) papers in Britain.

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Stromlo: An Australian observatory by Tom Frame and Don Faulkner

by Robyn Williams •

December 2003–January 2004, no. 257

Robyn Williams reviews ‘Stromlo: An Australian observatory’ by Tom Frame and Don Faulkner

In 1972, at the start of my career as a science journalist, I was asked to produce the Commonwealth Day documentary, a portrait of the spectacular Anglo Australian Telescope being built on Siding Spring Mountain. Together with the Australian National University, an independent board was driving the telescope project. I set off to Canberra to interview the infamous Olin Eggen, then director of Mount Stromlo.

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Working with Light Sensitive Materials by Geoffrey Hindley

by Gus van der Heyde •

September 1978, no. 4

Gus van der Heyde reviews ‘Working with Light Sensitive Materials’ by Geoffrey Hindley

The photograph is our time’s supreme form of self-expression. Wherever we look, we are surrounded by photographs – in books, on posters, in magazines, newspapers, packaging, and of course in films and television. The photograph is universally understandable and so appears not to need explanation to supplement it. Its power to convey experience increases as superfluous details are eliminated. And it attains its highest potential when the representation becomes purely symbolic.

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