School Director's Update
Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue65 1–31 August 2025
Last week marked the retirement of A/Professor Ralph Sutherland after 30 years as a staff member of RSAA. Having joined the ANU in 1985, Ralph was the longest serving employee of the School. During this time, Ralph contributed to the research development of dozens of students and postdocs, as he continues to do.
Ralph is a world-expert in the theoretical study of the interstellar medium and astrophysical plasmas more generally. He has literally written the book on this field! Ralph's work includes some of the most highly cited papers in our school including the famous 1993 paper on Cooling Functions for Low-Density Astrophysical Plasmas which has been the standard reference for gas cooling rates and has been cited more than 2500 times. One of Ralph’s major research focuses is the MAPPINGS code, which is a modelling code for astrophysical plasmas that he has maintained and developed for more than 30 years. Pleasingly, Ralph will continue his research and remain a regular visitor at Mount Stromlo as an Honorary Professor. A gathering to mark this occasion and acknowledge Ralph's contributions will be held in the coming weeks.
Last week was also the annual student update talks. Congratulations to all students who presented over the 5 mornings and special congratulations to Maja Jabłońska who took out the prize for best talk. It is wonderful to learn more about the breadth and quality of the science being done, and the quality of talks was as high as always. Well done all.
Congratulations to Claudia Reyes who has been awarded the 2025 Bragg Gold Medal from the Australian Institute of Physics for her outstanding PhD thesis on the Asteroseismology of Giant Stars. The prestigious Bragg Gold Medal recognises the most outstanding PhD thesis in physics by a student from an Australian University. The medal will be presented at the next AIP Summer Meeting.
I am please to report that in the coming job period, RSAA will be recruiting for another Stromlo Fellow (level B 4yrs) as well as a new position of Stromlo Fellow in Radio Astronomy (Level C continuing). The latter was enabled by a generous new gift to RSAA. The jobs will open early-November for 6 weeks.
We are forming a recruitment committee with a remit to identify a diverse pool of candidates and offer advice on applications. This committee was a recommendation in the School review and sits outside and independent from the selection committee. Associate Director (IDEA) Luca Casagrande is Chairing this recruitment committee. If you know of suitable candidates for these positions that the committee could approach for a discussion prior to the position opening, please reach out to Luca or myself.
Last Month Sue Barrell (RSAA PhD 1980) contacted me to return a 1927 copy of the Websters dictionary from the MSO library. This dictionary had been gifted to Sue on her PhD completion by the MSO librarian in recognition of Sue's fondness for Scrabble! The entry for telescope includes a diagram of the great Melbourne telescope (which was purchased by MSO in 1944 and eventually became the basis of the MACHO telescope). We will identify a more suitable location than my desk for this fabulous book.
Finally, a reminder that we will have our next all School meeting on the 17th of this month. Please join to hear updates from the School and University.
Stuart
Image: The 1927 Websters New International Dictionary and telescope entry.
