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Matthew Colless interviewed by Ragbir Bhathal in the Australian astronomers oral history project [sound recording]
Bib ID 3583576
Format AudioAudio
Author Colless, Matthew
Access Conditions Written permission is required for research use, personal copies and public use for 10 years from the date of the interview. 
Description 2005. 
3 digital audio tapes (ca. 195 min.) 
Series Australian astronomers oral history project 
Summary

Matthew Colless, born 1960 in Grafton, talks about his family background and childhood; his education and undergraduate days at Sydney University; Dick Hunstead; Hanbury Brown; Bernie Mills; his postgraduate years at Cambridge University; Martin Rees; Donald Lynden-Bell; Richard Ellis; his interest in cosmology and large scale structure; Paul Hewitt; his early work on multi-object spectroscopy; his working life and postdoctoral years at Durham University in the UK and Kitt Peak National Observatory in the US; the influences on his development as an astronomer; his Junior Research Fellowship at Cambridge University; coming back to Australia as Research Fellow at ANU Mount Stromlo Observatory; forming a team to do the 2dF survey; wide field spectroscopy and the importance of remaining competitive.

Colless discusses research at Mount Stromlo Observatory; his appointment as Director of the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO) and his motivation for taking up the job; his vision for AAO; wide-field spectrograph; extra-solar planets; the achievements of the AAO; observational cosmology; the use of multi-object spectrograph to map out galaxy distribution; Low Dispersion Survey Spectrograph (LDSS); Coma cluster; galaxy formation; the autofib redshift survey, 2dF survey and the 6dF spectrograph; his research strategies; his postgraduate students; his role in astronomical societies; his views on Australian astronomy; conditions for research in Australia, Europe and the US; elite astronomers; the Extremely Large Telescope and how Australia can participate in the project; the Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope, mentioned in the US Decadal Plan; his Australian Science Laureate Award; his family; his major achievement in life to date.

Biography/History Professor Matthew Colless is the Director of the Anglo-Australian Observatory and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. He has followed a distinguished career in astronomy and astrophysics and has 13 papers in the top 100 most-cited papers from their year of publication. One of 33 Australian Science Citation Laureates, with 7 high-impact papers in the period 1981-1998. Awarded the 1994 Professor M. K. Vainu Bappu Gold Medal by the Astronomical Society of India for exceptional scientific contributions in the field of astronomy and astrophysics. 
Notes

Recorded on October 21, 2005 at Epping, N.S.W.

Digital master; National Library of Australia, Oral History collection;

Index/Finding Aid Note Timed summary (4 p.) and Corrected transcript (typescript, 64 leaves) 
Subjects Colless, Matthew. - Interviews.  |  Anglo-Australian Observatory.  |  Astronomers - Australia - Interviews.  |  Astrophysicists - Australia - Interviews  |  Astronomy - Research - Australia.
Occupation Astronomers.  |  Astrophysicists.
Other Authors Bhathal, R. S
Details Collect From
ORAL TRC 5548
Copy: Recording
Petherick Reading Room (Oral History)
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ORAL TRC 5548 (transcript)
Copy: Transcript
Petherick Reading Room (Oral History)
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ORAL TRC 5548 (summary)
Copy: Summary
Petherick Reading Room (Oral History)
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