Spotlight on NZ

Eminent scientist heads ICT All-star line-up for ExpoNZ launch

Frances Manwaring | 18 June 2009 | 0 Comments

Paul Callaghan, currently Alan MacDiarmid Professor of Physical Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington, heads the all-star line up for ExpoNZ's first event on 16 July. People who can make even the most complex aspects of science and technology interesting and accessible are a rare breed.  Listening to Paul Callaghan talk almost made me wish I'd paid more attention in physics at school! His regular slot on the Kim Hill's Saturday Morning radio show has served up some fascinating dialogues about life, the universe and everything.  Conversations About Science, a collection of these were published in 2007 and make great reading, as does the recently published Wool to Weta and a related documentary Beyond the Farm and the Themepark, which will be the theme of Paul's ExpoNZ presentation. 

The place with all those sheep is still the vision conjured up by the words New Zealand for a depressing number of people overseas.  While no one wants to trivialise the success of our agricultural sector and the importance in our development as a nation of all those sheep, clever use of science and technology have been significant contributors to this success and are in many ways the unsung heroes in our national story. 

In fact, we're really good at science and technology and there are some exciting careers options here.  We have world leading scientific research programmes in emerging disciplines like biotechnology and nanotechnology and many others that feed a dynamic and innovative technology sector.   

Paul's message that we have to get beyond the farm/themepark stereotype is important, particularly if people with the skills we need to prosper and grow as a competitive, contemporary nation are to be convinced to come and live here. 

Paul has had more than 200 articles published in scientific journals.  In 2001 he became the 36th New Zealander to be made a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. He was awarded the Ampere Prize in 2004 and the Rutherford Medal in 2005, appointed a Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2006 and, in 2007, was recognised by a KEA/New Zealand Trade and Entreprise World Class New Zealander Award and received the Sir Peter Blake Medal.  In 2008, Paul was awarded a 2 year James Cook Research Fellowship by the Royal Society for New Zealand.

Pretty impressive stuff!  

 

Tags: Science, technology, science and technology, ExpoNZ, New Zealand, sheep