Annual Report 2007 - The Australian Nanotechnology Network

DISTINGUISHED LECTURER TOURS
The aim of the Distinguished Lecturer Program is to bring international experts in the field to
Australia and to give lectures in various institutions across the country. This also allows young
scientists to interact with internationally renowned scientists in the field and allow Australian
researchers to be aware of state of the art research overseas. These visitors will act as
Ambassadors for Australian Science internationally.
There were five Overseas Distinguished Lecturers invited to tour Australia and talk about their
fields of research and expertise. CD Video recordings of these seminars have been distributed to
members free of charge based on requests received. These CD’s are very popular and we are still
receiving requests for free CD’s of Distinguished Lecturer seminars presented in 2005 and 2006.
Copies of 2007 Distinguished Lecturer seminars and special lecture CD’s are attached.
Prof Jacob Israelachvili
Professor Jacob Israelachvili received his BA and MA in (Experimental) Physics from the
University of Cambridge, England, and also carried out graduate and postgraduate research work
there at the Surface Physics Department of the Cavendish Laboratory. He received his PhD in
1972. After a two-year European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) research fellowship
at the University of Stockholm, he left for Australia
where, from 1974 to 1986, he lead an experimental
research group devoted to measuring the forces
between surfaces. In 1986 he joined the faculty of the
University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB)
where he holds joint appointments as Professor in the
Chemical Engineering Department, the Materials
Department, and the BioMolecular Science and
Engineering program. From 1993 to 2003 he was the
Associate Director of the Materials Research
Laboratory at UCSB.
During his February visit to Australia, Professor
Israelachvili gave a lecture on the topic Recent
Progress in understanding the hydrophobic
interaction and its role in complex and biological
assemblies in the following cities:
Macquarie University, Sydney
The Australian National University, Canberra
The University of South Australia
The University of Melbourne, Melbourne
Emeritus Prof Neville Fletcher and
Prof Jacob Israelachvili
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