Sir Mark Oliphant AC KBE (1901-2000), a pioneer in the development of radar, was Governor of South Australia from 1971 to 1976. He is also remembered, however, as a participant in the Cambridge Cavendish Laboratory research group and in the United States Manhattan Project, which culminated in the artificial disintegration of the atomic nucleus and the bombing of Japan at the conclusion of World War II. He was director of research in the physical sciences at the Australian National University from 1950 to 1966 and the Foundation President of the Australian Academy of Science from 1954 to 1956. A campaigner for the environment, Aboriginal land rights and women's affirmative action, he once described himself as 'one of those persons who wish atomic weapons had never been made'.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1998
© Louis Kahan/Copyright Agency, 2024
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Sarah Engledow on a foundational gallery figure who was quick on the draw.
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