Premier’s Western Australian Scientist of the Year 2007 – Professor David Blair

HAVE you ever wondered what a black hole or the creation of the universe sounds like?

Thanks to research by The University of Western Australia physicist David Blair, within the next decade we may be able to detect gravitational waves on earth and “listen” to the sounds of the universe.

Professor Blair’s research into gravitational waves has won him the $100,000 Premier’s Scientist of the Year Award, adding to a list of medals and awards that include the prestigious Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) medal in 2005.

Professor Blair’s research is the driving force behind the development of a wave detector at the Australian International Gravitational Observatory at Gingin. The observatory will be the third point of a triangle of high-powered gravitational wave detectors – the others being in Italy and the United States.

“Without the southern hemisphere observatory, you cannot work out where things are and how far away they are,” said Professor Blair. “It is absolutely critical there is a southern hemisphere observatory. It multiplies the scientific value of the northern hemisphere observatories twentyfold.”

Australian and international scientists are collaborating to develop techniques that will make gravitational wave astronomy a reality. The WA detector, which has cost $30 million and will need a further $50 million to be finished, will be one of the world’s biggest.

Like a supersensitive microphone about one billion times more sensitive than a human ear, it will measure the tiny vibrations made when gravitational waves pass through objects.

Professor Blair has won an international reputation with his research on gravity waves over the past 25 years. He developed UWA’s niobium wave gravity detector and in 1984 developed the first sapphire clock – a super precise timepiece designed for space.

He also coordinates new projects for the educational Gravity Discovery Centre, which he said was recently described by Nobel Prize winner Roger Penrose as “the best science (education) centre in the world”. A cosmology gallery that “tells the history of the universe” will open early next year and a $3 million tower to replicate Galileo’s experiments on the leaning tower of Pisa is being built.

Investment in physics is a keen motivator for Professor Blair who laments the lack of resources in teaching physics and in professional development for overstretched high school physics teachers.

“You cannot develop physics by just mopping up at the edges,” he said. “You have to make a serious investment.

“Physics teaching (now) is just teaching 300 year old physics. They need to learn about the exciting frontiers which are now being left out of the curriculum.”

“I have gone out to create an education centre where we can teach teachers this modern physics and show them it is not something to be scared of.”

Professor Blair said the detection of gravity waves will open up a whole new spectrum, like the discovery of electromagnetic waves in the 1880s did in revolutionising our lives and our understanding of the universe during the twentieth century.

Asked about the practical spin-offs from the discovery of gravitational waves, he said: “What would Heinrich Hertz have said when he first succeeded in picking up electric waves across a table?”

“(Scientists) are not the best people to say – oh, we will have gravitational wave mobile telephones in the future, it is better to leave that to the science fiction writers. I cannot say what sort of gravity wave gadgets we will have.”

Winners reflect WA’s outstanding science talent THE other winners of the Premier’s Science Awards 2007 were also announced at a gala dinner held at Scitech last night. To read a profile of each of the winners click on the links below. Western Australian Young Scientist of the Year – Dr Kristen Nowak Early inspiration sparks world-class research career Premier’s Prize for Excellence in Science Communication Outside the Classroom – Mr Roger Harris WA’s wildlife warrior Premier’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching: Tertiary – Professor Paul McMenamin Art reveals the science of anatomy Premier’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching: Secondary – Mr Warwick Mathews Practical science fuels students’ learning Premier’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching: Primary – Mr Allan Whittome Teacher’s scientific passion a boon for the bush In an unexpected announcement the Premier also revealed he was establishing the Western Australian Science Hall of Fame. Scitech and the 2005 Nobel Prize winners in Physiology or Medicine, Professor Barry Marshall and Dr Robin Warren, were honoured as the inaugural inductees to the Hall of Fame. Mr Carpenter also announced a $42 million funding deal over the next five years for Scitech at the event. *ScienceNetwork WA is managed by Scitech.