Ekers, Ronald David (1941 - )

Summary

Ronald David Ekers is a Federation Fellow at the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Australia Telescope National Facility. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, a Foreign Member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science, a Foreign Member of the American Philosophical Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society and President of the International Astronomical Union. Throughout his illustrious career, Ekers has also been involved with a phenomenal number of committees and associations and has held prestigious positions in Europe and in the United States of America.

Details

Chronology

1963

Education - Bachelor of Science with Honours (BSc(Hons)), University of Adelaide

1967

Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Australian National University in Canberra

1967 - 1970

Career position - Postdoctoral Fellow, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, U.S.A.

1970 - 1971

Career position - Visiting Astronomer, Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, Cambridge, United Kingdom

1971 -

Career position - Member of the International Astronomical Union

1971 - 1976

Career position - Research Astronomer, Kapteyn Laboratory, Groningen, The Netherlands

1975 - 1980

Career position - Member of the Board of Directors of the Netherlands Foundation for Radio Astronomy

1976 - 1980

Career position - Professor, Kapteyn Laboratory, Groningen, The Netherlands

1979 - 1980

Career position - Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Institute of Millimeter Astronomy in France

1980 - 1987

Career position - Director of VLA Operations at Socorro, USA

1980 - 1988

Career position - Assistant Director of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in New Mexico, USA

1981 - 1988

Career position - Adjunct Professor, University of New Mexico, USA

1987 - 1990

Career position - Vice-Chairman, Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale (URSI) Commission J

1988 -

Career position - Associate, Royal Astronomical Society, United Kingdom

1988 -

Career position - Adjunct Professor, Australian National University

1988 - 2003

Career position - Foundation Director of the Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation)

1989 - 1992

Career position - Chairman, National Committee for Astronomy, Australian Academy of Science

1989 - 2005

Career position - Adjunct Professor, Australian National University

1990

Award - Pawsey Memorial Lecturer, Australian Institute of Physics, Melbourne

1990 - 1993

Career position - Chairman, Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale (URSI) Commission J

1992 -

Career position - Member of the National Committee for Astronomy, Australian Academy of Science

1993 -

Career position - Foreign Member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science

1993 -

Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)

1993 - 1995

Award - Honorary Fellow, University of Western Sydney

1994

Career position - Member, Astronomy and Astrophysics Grants Review Committee, Australian Research Council

1994 - 1996

Career position - Member, Editorial Board, Experimental astronomy

1994 - 1999

Career position - Member, Advisory Board, Research Centre for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Sydney

1995 - 2002

Career position - Member of the Executive, Australian Institute of Policy and Science

1997 - 2001

Career position - Member, Anglo-Australian Telescope Board

1998 - 2002

Career position - Member, Editorial Board, Science and technology

1999 - 2003

Career position - Member, Advisory Board, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Germany

1999 - 2004

Career position - Member, Australian Gemini Steering Committee

2000 - 2001

Career position - Chairman, International Square Kilometer Array (SKA) Steering Committee

2001

Award - Centenary Medal for service to Australian society and science in astronomy and cosmology

2001 - 2002

Career position - Visiting Miller Professor, University of California, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.

2001 - 2003

Career position - Member, Radio Astronomy Task Force, OECD Global Science Forum

2002 - 2004

Career position - Chair, Anglo-Australian Telescope Board

2002 - 2007

Career position - Member, Board of Management, Australian Astronomy

2003 -

Career position - Australian Research Council Federation Fellow, Australian National Telescope Facility

2003

Award - Foreign Member of the American Philosophical Society

2003 - 2006

Career position - President, International Astronomical Union

2005

Award - Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture, Australian Academy of Science

2005

Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)

2005 - 2007

Career position - Member, Sectional Committee 2, Australian Academy of Science

2005 - 2010

Career position - Member, Advisory Board, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Germany

2007 -

Career position - Adjunct Professor, Curtin University

2007 -

Career position - CSIRO Fellow

2007 - 2011

Career position - Member of Council, Australian Academy of Science

2014

Award - Grote Reber Gold Medal, International Union of Radio Science

2018 -

Career position - Member, National Academy of Science, U.S.A.

2019

Award - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to science as a radio astronomer, to scientific education, and to international astronomical organisations

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Bhathal, Ragbir, Australian Astronomers: Achievements at the Frontiers of Astronomy (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1996), 243 pp. Details
• Ian Clunies Ross Memorial Foundation, Achievements and challenges for Australian science: Distinguished Lecture Series 1993 (Parkville (Vic.): Ian Clunies Ross Memorial Foundation, 1993), 55 pp. Details
• Nossal, Gus [and others], Achievements and challenges for Australian science (Parkville, Vic.: Ian Clunies Ross Memorial Foundation, 1993), 55 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Ekers, R. D., 'John Bolton's Variable-baseline Interferometer and the Structure of Radio Galaxies', Australian Journal of Physics, 47 (5) (1994), 569-576. Details
• Frater, R. H.; and Ekers, R. D., 'John Paul Wild AC CBE FAA FTSE. 17 May 1923 - 10 May 2008', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 58 (2012), 327-46, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.2012.0034. Details
• Frater, R. H.; and Ekers, R. D., 'John Paul Wild 1923-2008', Historical Records of Australian Science, 23 (2) (2012), 212-27, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR12011. Details

Resources

• Ron Ekers, CSIRO Fellow, Australian Telescope National Facility, 2011. https://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/Ron.Ekers/. Details
• 'Ekers, Ron (19410918-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-463960. Details

Resource Sections

• Ward, C., 'Ronald David Ekers', in CSIROpedia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), 2011, https://csiropedia.csiro.au/Ekers-Ronald-David. Details

See also

• Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia [Australia Day 2019], Governor General's Office, Canberra, 2019, https://web.archive.org.au/awa/20190510165629mp_/https:/www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/honours/ad/ad2019/xklw-03mcv/Media%20Notes%20-%20AO.pdf. Details
• Bhathal, Ragbir, 'Australian Astronomers: What Made Them Great?', News and Reviews in Astronomy and Geophysics, 48 (2007), 533-6. Details
• Robson, Alexandra K.; Production Manager and Editor eds, Who's who in Australia 2019 (Southbank, Vic.: AAP Directories, 2018), 1788 pp. Details