Matthew Colless interviewed by Ragbir Bhathal in 2005 in the Australian astronomers oral history project [sound recording]
- Bib ID:
- 3583576
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Colless, Matthew, 1960-, interviewee
- 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 available National Library of Australia;
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Timed summary (4 p.) and corrected transcript (typescript, 64 leaves)
- Subject:
- Occupation:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Bhathal, Ragbir (Ragbir Singh), interviewer
- Related Records:
-
This belongs to the Australian astronomers oral history project.
This collection contains 38 records. - Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2075 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2005
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