AAvHF Distinguished Fellow Award

Purpose of Award

The Australian Association of von Humboldt Fellows (AAvHF) is the official organisation of returned Alexander von Humboldt Fellows in Australia. The Distinguished Fellow Award recognises those AAvHF members who have excelled in their professional field and/or have provided service to the organisation.

Further information can be downloaded here.

Awardees:

Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger, Emeritus Professor of Meteorology at Flinders University (the first such Chair in Australia), was the foundation President of the Australian Association of von Humboldt Fellows (1983 - 2009) and has had a long and distinguished career in Australian science. He was Professor of Meteorology at Flinders University (1971-1999), co-founder of and presently Senior Advisor to Airborne Research Australia (1999- present), founding Director of the Flinders Institute for Atmospheric and Marine Sciences and was Chairman of Country Fire Services Board of South Australia (1977-84). He was a member of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Advisory Board (2002 - 6), the Antarctic Science Advisory Committee (2003-9), and was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 1988. Prof. Schwerdtfeger received the Max Planck Research Prize in 1991 for work at the University of Bonn, Germany, and the Australian Centenary Medal in 2002. His interests include airborne and boundary layer meteorology; solar and atmospheric radiation; the use of aircraft in atmospheric science and remote sensing; regional climatology; glaciology, particularly sea-ice and icebergs; environment and land-use, remote sensing imagery and GIS

He is the author and co-author of several books, including:

Dynamic Meteorology - A Basic Course, Gordon, A., W. Grace, P. Schwerdtfeger and R. Byron-Scott (Arnold 1998)

Physical principles of micrometeorology, P. Schwerdtfeger (Elsevier, 1976)

Further information, including a list of publications since 1991, can be found at: www.airborneresearch.com.au/peter_schwerdtfeger.htm

Professor Elspeth McLachlan is a distinguished neuroscientist, particularly in the field of autonomic physiology. Professor McLachlan has published almost 150 scientific papers which have been cited over 5,000 times. She has held numerous grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the AustralianResearch Council and other funding bodies and has been a plenary lecturer at the Australian Physiological and Pharmacological Society, the Australian Society for Medical Research, the Australian Neuroscience Society, the American Autonomic Society and the International Society for Autonomic Neuroscience.  In 1993 she was awarded the Max-Planck-Forschungspreis for international collaborative research (with Professor Wilfred Jänig of the University of Kiel) and has been a strong supporter of the AAvHF since this time. In 1997 she was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and her other recognitions include the Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research (1998), the Centenary Medal for contribution to the Australian Community and Science in Medical Research (2003), the Distinguished Achievement Award by the Australian Neuroscience Society (2006) and Honorary Life Membership of the Australian Physiological Society in 2008. During her career Professor McLachlan held Chairs in several prominent Australian Universities, but also supported the research community as the Executive Head for Research Management at the NationalHealth and Medical Research Council (1999-2001) and as Pro-Vice Chancellor of Research at the University of New South Wales (2001 to 2004). From 1993 until her retirement in late 2009, Professor McLachlan has been based at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute in Sydney where she was an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow until 1999 and more recently Co-Director of the Spinal Injuries Research Centre and Emeritus Professor (University of New South Wales).

Mary Angela MILLER.

Angela was born in Beechworth, Victoria on November 26, 1904 to Henry and Emily Gerraty.  Her primary school education was with the Presentation Sisters in Chiltern and was followed by secondary schooling at the Brigidine Convent in Beechworth. Her academic potential was quickly recognized by the Brigidine Sisters and in 1917 at age 13 she was introduced to Professor Augustin Lodewyckx.  It was a highly significant encounter, leading to a close friendship, and honorary membership of the Lodewyckx family.  Their daughter Dymphna, who later married Manning Clark, became one of her best friends.  After achieving her Leaving Certificate in 1923, she enrolled in a University of Melbourne Bachelor of Arts degree, assisted by a scholarship to St Marys College. Her German classes were with Professor Lodewyckx, and in 1927 she graduated with honours, majoring in German and English.

Jobs were hard to come by and following periods of employment as a journalist, housekeeper and then business assistant to Mr Harry Miller, Angela applied successfully for a prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Scholarship, with the support of Professor Lodewyckx. This two-year scholarship in Munich commenced in 1930.

While at Munich University Angela took lectures with Dr Vossler (Romance Language), Dr Kutcher (Romance Theatre) and Professor Pinder (Romance Art) and established lifelong friendships with fellow students.

However, after 18 months in Munich, Angela returned to Melbourne and married Mr Harry Miller on December 10, 1931. Following the birth of her daughter, Rosalind, in 1934, she focused mainly on domestic responsibilities.  She returned to the University of Melbourne in 1943 to study Dutch under Professor Lodewyckx and in 1946 a Graduate Diploma of Education.  Her teaching career began that year, and included periods at Ruyton Girls School, Waverley High School, Canterbury Girls High, Kilmaire College, and then, from 1960 to her retirement in 1969, Balwyn High School.

Angela was an amazing teacher, who had an innate ability to hold her class, and was highly regarded as a teacher of German language and culture. She had a profound influence on many people, both through her teaching skills, and by nurturing and mentoring so many whom she welcomed into her home. She made many active long-lasting friendships as a result. 

Following the formation of the Australian Association of von Humboldt Fellows, she became a regular participant in the activities of the Association in Victoria.

(Mr Michael Whishaw is acknowledged for much of this text which is extracted from his Eulogy to Angela Miller, presented at her funeral in Balwyn, Victoria, on July 19, 2006 and for the accompanying image.)

Dr David Sydney Teakle M Agric Sc (Univ Qld), PhD (Univ Calif Berkeley), an agriculturist and plant pathologist, worked initially in the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and then at the Berkeley campus of the University of California. Later he spent 28 years in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Queensland, where his research focused on diseases of plants caused by viruses, bacteria and fungi.  Significantly, recognition and control of microbial pathogens in crops is necessary to maximize food production and to work towards freedom from hunger.  His research, published collaboratively in 100 research papers, included some notable advances in the understanding of plant diseases and the microbial world. At Berkeley, it was shown for the first time that a chytrid fungus was responsible for the transmission of a soil-borne plant virus.

Other research demonstrated that some viruses infecting plants are released from the roots into the soil in large amounts, and can infect seedlings growing in the soil without a fungal or other vector. In Queensland, the damaging sugarcane ratoon stunt disease, thought to be caused by an unknown virus, was discovered to be caused by a tiny bacterium. In retirement, Dr Teakle has established and chaired a committee within the International Society for Plant Pathology to work towards the standardization of common names of plant diseases.

Dr George F. Bornemissza OAM began his study of beetles as a teenager in Baja, Hungary. Research in Budapest towards his PhD was interrupted in 1946 by the Soviet invasion and Communist takeover of his country, as a result of which he fled to Austria, completing his doctorate in Innsbruck.  He then migrated to Australia, arriving on 31 December 1950, and was determined to make a difference, to do something NEW and BIG! in his land of choice.

This aspiration was realised in providing bovine dung beetles for the benefit of the pastoral industry and he embarked on his 20 year long project with the CSIRO, importing successfully about 50 species of bovine dung beetles from Africa and Mediterranean Europe, coincidentally reducing bush fly numbers. Since his retirement, he has created his Opus Magnus, Forest Beauties of the Beetle World: A Tribute to Biodiversity and an Appeal for its Preservation, one of the most comprehensive and spectacularly mounted displays of beetles anywhere in the world, which he has donated to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the most recent addition of 1,037 specimens from the Neotropic region having occurred in June 2011. Dr Bornemisszas awards include: his Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (Munich), 1960-61; Britannica Award, 1973, For his application of ecology for human benefit; Rolex Award for Enterprise, 1982; Order of Australia Medal (OAM), 2001, For the success of introduced dung beetles in Australia; Emeritus Fellow, Entomology, CSIRO, 2006; and Australian Geographic Conservationist of the Year, 2008. Of the numerous species of dung and other beetles which Dr Bornemissza discovered, two of his favourites are Scarabaeus bornemisszai and Sisyphus bornemisszanus.