Symposium to honour memory of Nobel Prize winner

May 15, 2007

The University of Wollongong will tomorrow (Wednesday 16 May) host the inaugural Alan MacDiarmid symposium on organic conductors in memory of the late Nobel Prize winner. Professor MacDiarmid won the Nobel Prize for the revolutionary discovery that plastic can, after certain modifications, be made electrically conductive.

Professor MacDiarmid, a New Zealander, had a great affinity for both Australian and New Zealand science and New Zealand will be well represented at tomorrow’s symposium. He led the International Advisory Boards of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science and The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology in their formative years.

Professor MacDiarmid died on February 7 this year and in his memory both the Centres agreed to establish the Alan MacDiarmid Symposium on Organic Conductors. The symposium will be held on alternative years in Australia and New Zealand.

The Executive Research Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, Professor Gordon Wallace, said the symposium would celebrate Alan MacDiarmid’s incredible achievements in the field of organic conductors and the inspiration and leadership he provided to many young scientists around the world. Speakers tomorrow include scientists from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, France and Denmark.

Media please note: There will be an official opening ceremony starting at 10.30am in the Council Room, Administration Building, involving the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Gerard Sutton; Professor Paul Callaghan from the MacDiarmid Institute, Victoria University, New Zealand; and UOW’s Professor Gordon Wallace. Photo/filming opportunities also exist from 10am to 10.30am during the morning tea session.

For further information contact Professor Gordon Wallace on (02) 4221 3127.

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128