National Science Week 2009

The Australian National University was heavily involved in National Science Week again this year, running events and tours for people of all ages.

As part of National Science Week the ANU College of Physical Sciences brought Cambridge University chemist, Dr Peter Wothers out to Australia to present his action packed lecture "Just Add Water". The highly entertaining lecture featured a wide variety of chemistry experiments and demonstrations all involving water. Dr Wothers presented four lectures for school groups and a public lecture on Thursday night. The public lecture was attended by over 440 people. The success of the event was so great that the Dean has agreed to invite Dr Wothers back out again for National Science Week 2010.

The ANU also played host to 55 Year 10 students that scored perfect marks in the Rio Tinto Big Science competition. The students attended an awards ceremony at the ANU John Curtin School of Medical Research where they were presented with certificates by the Dean of Science. The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, The Hon. Kim Carr also attended. After the official ceremony, the students and parents attended a presentation by Dr Wothers followed by activities in the Research Schools of Chemistry, Biology and Physics.

The central aspect of National Science Week in the ACT was the Science Spectacular at the CSIRO Discovery Centre. ANU had a major involvement with this event and had representatives from several Research Schools running activities over the course of the weekend. The ANU Black Hole society were also involved and provided a couple of telescopes for visitors to look through.

Other ANU activities included:
Extracting DNA from strawberries (Research School of Biology)
Making liquid nitrogen ice-cream (Research School of Chemistry)
Using mirrors and lenses to change the direction of light (Research School of Physics and Engineering)
Rock samples and faultline/earthquake science (Research School of Earth Sciences)
Visual science – eyesight tests for colour blindness and representations of cataracts, etc.

Posted 25 August 2009