Our story
Building blocks
In 1946, Federal Parliament passed a Bill establishing ANU as the country’s national university. The University comprised four founding research institutes, one of which was physics, which continues today as the Research School of Physics.
Testament to the University’s success, these founding institutions expanded over the next 50 years into a broad range of disciplines, including those which now make up the College of Science: astronomy and astrophysics, biology, chemistry, Earth sciences, environment and society, mathematics, physics, and science communication.
The University's illustrious research history continues to contribute to its ranking as one of the world’s top ten institutions for education in environmental, Earth and marine sciences, while placed in the top 50 for a broad range of scientific research areas including physics and astronomy, metallurgy and materials, mathematics and chemistry.
Our scientists change history
Since our foundation, and continuing today, ANU researchers have contributed to some of Australia's biggest scientific achievements.
Sir Mark Oliphant: played a critical role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and founded the Research School of Physics at ANU.
Dr Germaine Joplin: contributed invaluable data and analysis to Australian geology as the first academic appointed to research Earth sciences at ANU.
Professor Frank Fenner: oversaw the worldwide eradication of smallpox, introduced the Myxoma virus to control Australia’s rabbit plague, and established Australia’s first research centre focusing on the interaction between resources, the environment and society - the Fenner School.
Professor Hanna Neumann: an internationally renowned group theorist who revolutionised mathematical education in Australia, and was also the first woman appointed to a Chair at ANU.
Professor Susanne von Caemmerer: was part of the team which first modelled photosynthesis, a cornerstone of research into plant physiology.
Professor John Shine and Dr Lynn Dalgarno: discovered the nucleotide sequence, called the Shine-Dalgarno sequence, necessary for the initiation and termination of protein synthesis. John was a PhD student at ANU, and Lynn was his supervisor.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt: awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate.
Professors Susan Scott and David McClelland: made a critical contribution to the global effort to detect gravitational waves, a Nobel Prize-winning discovery. Susan and David shared in the award of the 2020 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science.
Professor Graham Farquhar: the only Australian to win the Kyoto Prize—the most prestigious international award for fields not honoured with a Nobel Prize—for his life’s work in plant biophysics and photosynthesis.
Professor Lisa Kewley: the first person in the southern hemisphere to be awarded the US National Academy of Science's James Craig Watson Medal, for her research on galaxy formation and evolution.
Professor Xuemei Bai: awarded 2018 Volvo Environment Prize for her pioneering work on urbanisation, and urban system sustainability in Asia and globally.
