Engineer, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Dr Alan Finkel, has been appointedAustralia’s new Chief Scientist, and will assume the post in 2016 once the current Chief Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb, completes his five year term.
Members of the Australian scientific community have offered their reactions to the news of Dr Finkel’s appointment.
Professor Merlin Crossley
Dean of Science, University of New South Wales
Many scientists will be delighted at the news. Alan Finkel is a brilliant, energetic and persuasive communicator. He is passionate about science and has been a champion of education at all levels. He understands the importance of knowledge and its applications, and he has a record of success as an entrepreneur and business leader.
Through his magazine, Cosmos, he has an enormous breadth of scientific knowledge, and having been Chancellor of Monash University, he knows what universities can do when they have the right vision.
He’s someone with the intelligence and confidence to be able to drive an ambitious and positive agenda. He’ll be able to advocate strategies that work and help the government to see through sensible policies, rather than jumping from one doomed short term fix to another.
Ian Chubb will be a hard act to follow but it is great to see someone like Alan Finkel take over, and I’m sure he’ll help the government enact good policies in critical areas, like inspiring school kids via pure science, providing fellowships for our young researchers, sustainably funding research infrastructure, engaging with industry, and finally using scientific thinking to address the grand challenges facing our nation.
Professor Brian Schmidt
Distinguished Professor, Australian National University
Alan Finkel is worthy successor to Ian Chubb. His experience as scholar, innovator, businessman, and university chancellor covers the whole gambit of science-related activities, and is underpinned by a great personal enthusiasm for the betterment of Australia. I look forward to working with Alan in the years to come.
Sir Gustav Nossal
Emeritus Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Melbourne
This is truly the most fantastic news. [Alan] Finkel is an extraordinary leader. He has proven himself in personal scientific research. He has succeeded in business in competitive fields. He has worked for the public good, most notably in his presidency of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering.
He has been unbelievably generous in philanthropy, supporting exciting causes. He has shown leadership in the university world. He is a scientific publisher of note. Beyond all this, he is a person of the highest intelligence, integrity and imagination.
It is difficult to think of anyone who would do this important job with greater distinction.
As an aside, Australia may be “getting two for the price of one”, as his wife, Elizabeth Finkel, is a distinguished science journalist and author.