Plastic note pioneer receives Uni honour and shares currency of science success
Media Release, Thursday 15 December 2005
The polymer scientist best known in Australia for inventing the world’s first plastic bank note will be awarded an Honourary Doctorate by the University of Melbourne.
Professor David H. Solomon will receive his Honourary Doctorate at a graduation ceremony of PhD and Bachelor of Engineering students on Saturday (December 17).
Professor Solomon led the CSIRO team which worked with the Reserve Bank of Australia to develop the first difficult to forge plastic banknote.
In his address to students he will outline the 20-year process from the initial concept to issuing the Australian Bicentennial $10 note in 1988.
The new plastic note put Australia at the forefront of secure currency production and so far the technology has been exported to more than 20 countries around the world.
“The project changed the Reserve Bank forever from an organisation that was totally dependent on overseas technology and the importation of raw materials and equipment, to one that was a world leader,’’ Professor Solomon says.
“That change wasn’t an easy one, we were fighting to bring about a change of culture.
“We had to build a secret mini-production line and produce 50 million notes in order to convince the Reserve Bank that the ideas were viable.’’
While Professor Solomon is best known in Australia for his work on polymer notes, internationally he is acclaimed for his work on free radical polymerization and in particular a process that controls the structure and formation of polymer chains to enable plastics to be used for a much wider range of processes.
Computer chips and medical devices which enable the controlled release of drugs are examples of products being developed as a result of Professor Solomon’s work in this area.
Professor Solomon is one of an elite group of Australian scientists admitted to the Royal Society, whose 1300 members include Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
Professor Solomon was head of the University of Melbourne’s Chemistry Department from 1991 to 1995.
He remains at the university as a Professorial Fellow in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
He has written six books, 250 papers and holds 35 patents. One of his patents was the world’s most cited in 2002.
Professor Peter Scales, head of the University of Melbourne’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, says Professor Solomon is a great scientist.
“He has also demonstrated a deep understanding of the compromises and perturbations to get a product to market,’’ he says.
“This is sometimes the most time-consuming and scientifically frustrating aspect of any research project that has an applied focus.’’
MEDIA CONTACT:
Professor David Solomon
8344 8200
davids@unimelb.edu.au
Embargoed advance copies of Professor Solomon’s address to students can be obtained by contacting Janine Sim-Jones at the University of Melbourne media unit.
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