Professor Jodie Bradby (Australian National University) has been awarded the Women in Leadership Medal, recognising her “leadership at the Australian Institute of Physics including strategic advocacy and community building at the national level and for her long-standing work in gender equity.”

Jodie Bradby is a professor at the Research School of Physics and Engineering at the Australian National University where she leads a group on high pressure physics. She is a past President of the Australian Institute of Physics (2019 – 2020) and was the second woman to be elected to the role. She has actively contributed to a wide range of gender equity initiatives and policy reviews that that will support women in physics and other sciences. 

Dr Matthew Berrington (Australian National University) has been awarded the Bragg Gold Medal for Excellence in Physics, recognising the most outstanding PhD thesis in physics or its applications by a student from an Australian University, for the thesis titled: “Optical studies of magnetically ordered erbium crystals.”

His work has focused on optically studying various rare earth crystals, to identify a system suitable for microwave-optical conversion, and to study the optical effects typical of these systems. This work could help enable the integration of disparate quantum information technologies, paving the way for distributed quantum computing and a worldwide quantum internet.

Let your lens bring the captivating world of physics to life. The AIP ACT Branch invites photographers of all skill levels around Australia to participate in the AIP ACT photography competition.

Celebrating the awe-inspiring beauty of physics.

Submit your photos or images by 31 August for a chance to win one of three cash prizes:

• $100 Grand Prize
• $50 School Student Prize
• $50 University Student Prize

The images of past winners have featured on the AIP website and in the AIP bulletins.

Details on how to enter can be found on the photo comp flyer.

Below are some examples of previous winning photos. See all 2023 winners here.

Birefringence by Ivan Toftul, 2023

Frost bubble by Chad Clark, 2022

AIP member, Sarah Lau, reflects on the 73^rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting of 2024 at Lake Constance, Germany.

It was a whirlwind three weeks. Along with 10 other young scientists, I was selected to attend the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting of 2024, focused on physics.

We came from different disciplines – spanning from quantum optics to oceanography, radio astronomy through to computational fluid dynamics – and turned up to the beautiful island on Lake Constance refreshed and ready to meet 600 other young scientists, as well as to engage with over 30 Laureates who had nominated to join the meeting.

We hit the ground running and were warned in the opening ceremony to prepare for long days filled with inspiring discussions and the making of many connections.

It did not disappoint. The program was filled with insightful lectures, talks, and panel featuring the Laureates, and we were also able to join open exchanges with them every day where the young scientists were free to ask whatever question they would like in a group setting.

I found these sessions most interesting, especially with glimpses into their experiences, motivations and future goals.

One universal takeaway was to pursue work that is of interest to us, especially as we’ll spend many hours on the topic and interest will motivate perseverance in the face of hurdles that are bound to come.

Another challenge that was mentioned several times was the desire to push the frontiers of science without funding of fundamental research, where the latter usually leads to new technologies or techniques required to do the former.

I was particularly inspired by Saul Perlmutter’s push for scientific thinking for all, especially scientific optimism where we have the perseverance and belief that problems are solvable, and that this is exactly what we need to grapple with the challenges in our immediate global future.

On the agenda were also talks from select young scientists at the meeting, including Australia’s own Claire Yung and Grace Tabi, both students from the Australian National University, as well as opportunities to sign up for closed events such as sponsored breakfasts and dinners, or a smaller Lunch or Science Walks around the island with a Laureate.

Evening festivities included a Bavarian Night, Grill & Chill by the lake with host families, and an International Evening – this year sponsored by Texas A&M University who gave us all ‘cowboy hats’ and brought a mechanical bull to boot!

The week ended with a boat trip to Mainau Island, where 30 Laureates signed the 2024 Mainau Declaration on Nuclear Weapons. It was a warning in light of expiring arm control agreements and spread of nuclear weapons that “there is a significant probability that, either by accident or deliberate act, these horrible weapons may be used – with the likelihood of the end of human civilisation as we know it.

We the undersigned scientists of different countries, different creeds, and different political persuasions, call on the people and leaders of the world to heed our warning and act to prevent this catastrophe.”

This echoes the 1955 Mainau Declaration with the same warning. The only other Mainau Declaration came in 2015 on climate change, with a call to action for rapid action.

It was a privilege and pleasure to attend this meeting, thanks to the SIEF grant mediated through the Academy of Science. This enabled us to partake in the Berlin Innovation Tour before the meeting (thank you to Hans Bachor and Elaine Sadler for taking us around!), as well as organise various lab tours relevant to our research.

Additional thanks also to the ARC Centre for Engineered Quantum Systems who supported my initial nomination back in 2020, and to the Lindau Committee for pushing my in-person attendance back to this year.

It was an enriching experience which I recommend to all young scientists, and encourage supervisors to promote to their students.

Nominations for positions in the AIP National Executive open until 21 Aug 2024

Help lead Australia’s premier society for the promotion of physics in research, education, industry and the community by joining the AIP National Executive team.

Every two years the AIP elects a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary,  Registrar and Awards Officer.  Any financial Member, Fellow or Honorary Fellow can be nominated for these positions.

If you’d like to submit a nomination, it should be accompanied by signed endorsements from two financial Members, Fellows or Honorary Fellows, as well as a letter of consent from the nominee.

Note that under the institute’s constitution, the current president and vice president cannot seek re-election for the same position.

To nominate, please send the documents via email to aip@aip.org.au, or by mail to AIP, PO Box 73, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia.

The current Executive has put forward the following nominations:

• Stuart Midgely (as President)
• Susan Coppersmith (as Vice-President)
• Michael Schmidt (as Honorary Secretary)
• Stephen Collins (as Honorary Registrar)
• Dongchen Qi (as Honorary Treasurer)
• Muhammad Usman (as Awards Officer)

If there are further nominations*, elections will be held in October. The new Executive will take office at the Annual General Meeting of the AIP in February next year.

Women aged 18 and above who are working in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or medicine, and living in Australia, are invited to share their experiences in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine).

The study involves completing an anonymous online survey, which takes approximately 15-20 minutes.

Data collection will continue until late July.

To participate or find out more: https://researchsurveys.deakin.edu.au/jfe/form/SV_6LqZtOAamWWTvrE

This study has ethical approval from Deakin University (HEAG-H 04_2024).

"We are the Universe, so we should get to know it better.”

Congratulations to AIP member Dr Sara Webb of Swinburne University of Technology for winning the 2024 David Allen Prize for exceptional achievement in astronomy communication.

Sara is not only chasing gravitational wave counterparts, hunting for fast radio burst progenitors, cataloguing the fastest flare stars in the galaxy and building AI tools to help astronomers work faster. She has also built an impressive outreach presence across multiple forms of media, with over 17 million social media views, and a reach of tens of millions annually through traditional media.

Making bright young radio galaxies:

Congratulations to AIP student associate Sophie Young of University of Tasmania for winning the Bok Prize 2024 for outstanding research by an honours student or eligible masters student.

The distant universe is packed with radio galaxies emitting intense bursts of light from supermassive black hole jets. Most of them are young, small, and difficult to study. Sophie created a theoretical sample of these radio galaxies that can now be used to help study them in real life. She showed how they influence their neighbourhood by injecting energy and momentum into the gas clouds between stars.

Read more about all six winners of the Astronomical Society of Australia’s awards here.

Celebrating and revealing the beauty of the science that we use daily to connect with the world, light our homes, fight disease, and scan our groceries.

The United Nations has declared 2025 to be the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.

Australia’s physicists are inviting scientific, cultural and industry organisations across the country to join them in a national celebration of the impact of quantum science.

Register your interest at quantum2025.org.au.

“Quantum science is both fascinating and beautiful. It only seems mysterious because it’s far from our everyday experience and intuition,” says Professor Nicolas Menicucci, a quantum physicist at RMIT and Chair of the Australian Institute of Physics’ Quantum Science and Technology Topical Group.

“The Quantum Year will showcase the impact of once-esoteric fundamental physics on our everyday lives,” says Professor Nicole Bell, President of the Australian Institute of Physics.

The laws of quantum mechanics were discovered in 1925, allowing scientists to explore Nature at the subatomic scale, where fundamental particles behave as both waves of energy and particles of matter.

“During the Quantum Year, we invite all Australians to learn how this fascinating branch of science has transformed our understanding of Nature and the Universe – and how the technologies built on these principles continue to transform our world,” Professor Menicucci says.

We use quantum science every day in devices that are central to modern life, including:

• The LEDs that light our homes and our TV screens in the 21st Century
• The lasers that scan our groceries and correct our vision
• The microchips at the heart of every smartphone, computer and modern car
• The medical imaging devices that have saved countless lives in the fight against cancer and other diseases
• The solar panels and batteries that will enable us to live at net zero

Today, Australia is at the forefront of the race to develop new quantum technology that will enhance our lives. We’re developing navigation systems that don’t require satellites. We’re creating miniaturised sensors that can detect disease, monitor metal fatigue and find critical minerals. We’re inventing cheaper and more efficient solar and battery technologies, and racing to create quantum computers.

“2025 will be a year where we, as scientists, hope to share and illuminate the beauty of quantum physics, and inspire the public with what new promising technologies quantum physics could enable in the next 100 years,” says Dr Xanthe Croot, a researcher and Lecturer in Quantum Science at the University of Sydney.

Advances in quantum technology will enable new computing and communication models with the potential to accelerate innovations in materials science, medicine, and cybersecurity, among other fields. In this way, quantum science and technology is poised to help address the world’s most pressing challenges — including the need to rapidly develop renewable energy, improve human health, and create global solutions in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

“This second quantum revolution is leading to breakthroughs in using quantum effects like superposition and entanglement for new applications,” said John Doyle, Henry B. Silsbee Professor of Physics at Harvard University, co-director of the Harvard Quantum Initiative, and president-elect of the American Physical Society. “When these phenomena can be applied broadly to control and engineer matter at the level of single quanta, and even single atoms, they will spark transformations in a multitude of technologies.”

“Over the coming months, the Australian Institute of Physics (AIP) will hold briefing events across Australia, starting in Canberra and Sydney in July, about the exciting events to come during the Quantum Year of 2025. The AIP will run our own program of events, and we invite museums, artists, media, industry and others to celebrate the Quantum Year in your own unique way – with events of born of your own imagination and excitement about quantum science and technology,” says Professor Menicucci.

To find out more about plans in Australia for the Quantum Year or to get involved, visit quantum2025.org.au.

Would you like to grow your network across the Australian physics community and make connections with those working in many physics sub-disciplines?

The Australian Institute of Physics is looking for a new volunteer to join the national AIP Executive.

AIP Executive is making strategic decisions to grow the Australian physics community.

Each member of the AIP Executive focuses on one area, ranging from industry engagement, advocacy, the development of policy statements, to AIP finance and the day-to-day running of the AIP.

It is expected that Executive members would perform this role for 2 to 3 years, attend national Executive meetings (currently virtual and monthly), and take on the responsibility for one area.

If you are interested in finding out more, please contact us at executive@aip.org.au today.

We welcome Dr Karen Siu to the role of AIP Operations Manager.

Karen holds a PhD in X-ray physics and has been an avid user of synchrotrons across Europe, Japan, the UK, and USA. More recently, she has been working in research strategy and support across industry and academia.

Karen takes over the Operations Manager role from Nicole Reynolds, who recently finished her work with the AIP after four years of dedicated service.

"I am very much looking forward to engaging with the physics community again on a daily basis and supporting the Institute in all its endeavours."