Browse Entries

Use Trove to find more resources by/about this Biographical entry

  • Trove

Exhibitions

  • Adolph Basser Library Manuscript Collection
  • Australasian Science
  • Sir Mark Oliphant

Biographical entry Oliphant, Marcus Laurence Elwin (1901 - 2000)

FAA, FRS, FTSE

  • Click to view this Thumbnail

    Sir Marcus Laurence E. Oliphant
    Details

Born
8 October 1901
Kent Town, South Australia, Australia
Died
14 July 2000
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Occupation
Physicist

Summary

Sir Marcus Oliphant was Director of the Research School of Physical Sciences, Australian National University 1950-1963, and first President of the Australian Academy of Science 1954-1956. He continued as professor at ANU 1964-1967 and was Governor of South Australia 1971-1976.

Details

Born 8 October 1901. Died Canberra, 14 July 2000. KBE cr 1959, AC 1977. Educated University of Adelaide and Cambridge. Messel Research Fellow, Royal Society 1931, lecturer and Fellow, St John's College 1934, Assistant Director of Research, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge 1935, Australian Representative of Atomic Energy Commission 1946, Poynting Professor of Physics, University of Birmingham 1937-50, Vice-Principal 1948-49, Director, Research School of Physical Sciences, Australian National University 1950-63, Professor of Physics of Ionised Gases, Honorary Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies, Australian National University 1964-67, Governor of South Australia 1971-76. Fellow, Royal Society 1937, Hughes Medal, Royal Society 1943, Silvanius Thomson Medal, Institute of Radiology 1946, Trasenoter, l'Association des Ingenieurs, Liege 1947, Faraday Medal, Institution of Electrical Engineers 1948, Foundation Fellow, Australian Academy of Science 1954, President of the Australian Academy of Science 1954-57, Bakerian Lecture, Royal Society 1955, Rutherford Memorial Lecture, Royal Society 1955, Galathea Medal, H.M. The King of Denmark 1956, Australian Institution of Production Engineers Medal 1958, Matthew Flinders Medal, Australian Academy of Science 1961, James Cook Medal, The Royal Society of New South Wales 1974, Foundation Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering 1975, ANZAAS Medal 1979.

Related Corporate Bodies

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant - Records, 1953 - 1982, MS 031; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details
  • Oral Collection, 1931 - 2003, MS 057; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Barr Smith Library, Special Collections, The University of Adelaide

  • Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant - Records, 1896 - 1983, 92 04775p SR; Barr Smith Library, Special Collections, The University of Adelaide. Details

National Library of Australia Oral History Collection

  • Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant - Records, 1923 - 1967, DeB 276; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science Exhibitions

Books

  • Cockburn, Stewart, Oliphant, the life of Sir Mark Oliphant, Axiom Books, Adelaide, 1981. Details
  • Ophel, Trevor and Jenkin, John, Fire in the Belly: the First Fifty Years of the Pioneer School at the ANU, Research School of Physical Science and Engineering, Institute of Advanced Studies, ANU, Canberra, 1996, 157 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Bleaney, Brebis, 'Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, 1901-2000', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004. Details

Edited Books

  • Moyal, Ann (ed.), Portraits in Science, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 1994, 209 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Barton, Ruth, 'Oliphant: the life and times of Sir Mark Oliphant', Australian Physicist, vol. 18, no. 11, 1981, pp. 228-230. Details
  • Binnie, Anna, 'Oliphant, the Father of Atomic Energy', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, vol. 139, 2006, pp. 11-22. Details
  • Bleaney, Brebis, 'Sir Mark (Marcus Laurence Elwin) Oliphant, AC , KBE', Royal Society of London, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows, vol. 47, 2001, pp. 383-393. Details
  • Carver, J.H.; Crompton, R.W.; Ellyard, D.G.; Hibbard, L.U.; Inall, E.K., 'Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant 1901-2000', Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 14, no. 3, 2003, pp. 337-364. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR02012.htm. Details
  • Grant, Colin Kerr, 'Three Pioneers', Radar Returns, vol. 12, no. 2, 2007, pp. 7-8. Also available at http://radarreturns.net.au/assets/issues/rrvol12no2S.pdf. Details
  • Oliphant, Mark, 'Physical Science in Australian Universities', Vestes, vol. 3, no. 2, 1960, pp. 11-15. Details
  • Oliphant, Mark, 'Seventh Cecil Eddy Memorial Oration, 1964. 'The Cambridge Year'', Radiographer, vol. 11, no. 2, 1964, pp. 6-9. Details
  • Piddington, J. H. and Oliphant, M. L., 'David Forbes Martyn', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, vol. 2, no. 2, 1972, pp. 47-60. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9720220047.htm. Details
  • Pockley, Peter, 'The Great White Oliphant', Australasian Science, vol. 21, no. 9, 2000, pp. 37-38. Details
  • Sutherland, Denise, 'Sir Mark Oliphant (1901-2000)', Australian Science, vol. 22, no. 2, 2001, p. 46. Details

Online Resources

See also

Digital resources

Title
Sir Marcus Laurence E. Oliphant
Type
Image

Details

McCarthy, G.J.