Professor Don Melrose (School of Physics, Sydney Uni)
Don's undergraduate studies were at the University of Western Australia (1958) and the University of Tasmania (1959-61). The following year he went to Oxford as the Rhodes Scholar for Tasmania where, between rugby training sessions at the King’s Arms, he completed a DPhil in theoretical elementary particle physics.
He then became interested in plasma astrophysics and that has been the overarching theme of his subsequent research. He worked at the University of Sussex (UK), Yeshiva University (USA) and the University of Maryland (USA) before joining the faculty at the Australian National University (1969-1979).
Since 1979 he has been a professor at the University of Sydney. He was Director of the Australian Research Council's Special Research Centre for Theoretical Astrophysics from 1991 to 1999.
Don has received numerous honours in the course of his career, including the Pawsey Medal and the Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal, both awarded by the Australian Academy of Science. He is a Fellow of the Academy. His current work is an exposition of quantum plasma dynamics.