Skip to main content

Catalyst: Snapshots of top Australian scientists

Posted 
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
Woman looks into microscope
Catalyst: Snapshots of top Australian scientists

SUBJECTS:  Science

YEARS:  7–8


Australia has produced many of the world's top scientists.

Watch this clip to discover who some of them are.

Explore the scientific discoveries that made them famous, and how they changed our understanding of the world.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Can you name any well-known Australian scientists? What did they do/discover that make them famous? Can you think of an important scientific discovery that was made in Australia? How did it change people's understanding of the world?
  2. 2.How did the work of Dr Douglas Waterhouse greatly reduce the number of flies in Australia? What Nobel Prize-winning scientist was named 'Australian of the Year' in 1997? Three of the scientists mentioned are women. Name each of them and what they discovered.
  3. 3.The clip introduces 20 scientists and their discoveries. List three discoveries that you think have had the biggest impact on how we live and understand the world. Provide reasons for your choices. How would the world be different if those discoveries had not been made?
  4. 4.Choose one or two scientists from the clip and do an internet search on them. What extra information about them can you find? Imagine you could sit down and talk to them. What questions would you ask about their life and work as a scientist in Australia?



Date of broadcast: 21 Aug 2008


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Posted