Person
Watt, John Stanley (1932 - 2020)
AM
- Born
- 20 May 1932
- Died
- 30 July 2020
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia - Occupation
- Mineral Physicist, Nuclear physicist and Science administrator
Summary
John Watt worked at the Australian Atomic Energy Commission (AAEC) from 1956 to 1982 and as a Chief Research Scientist with the CSIRO from 1982 to 1997. He is known for his research into on-line analysis applications in the minerals, coal and oil industries, which resulted in the development of the Coalscan range of mineral analysis instruments for the coal industry. These instruments revolutionised quality control in the coal industry in Australia and overseas and vastly improved energy efficiency, reduced waste output and safety margins, while thus reducing production costs by at least US$50 million per year in Australia alone. Watt and his team received much recognition for this development, including the 1992 Australia Prize.
Details
Chronology
- 1956
- Education - Master of Science, University of Sydney
- c. 1956 - c. 1967
- Career position - Research Officer, Australian Atomic Energy Commission (AAEC)
- 1967 - c. 1982
- Career position - Head of the Radioisotope Applications Research Section, AAEC Isotope Division
- 1982 - 1985
- Career position - Chief Research Scientist and Officer-in-Charge of the CSIRO Division of Mineral Physics' Lucas Heights and Port Melbourne Facilities
- 1983
- Award - Australian Design Award, awarded by the Industrial Design Council of Australia
- 1985 - 1995
- Career position - Assistant Chief of the CSIRO Division of Mineral and Process Engineering
- 1991
- Award - Australian Nuclear Association Award
- 1992
- Award - Australia Prize (in the field of Physical Sciences relating to mining or processing of mineral resources (jointly)), Commonwealth of Australia
- 1995 - 1997
- Career position - CSIRO Fellow, CSIRO Division of Mineral and Process Engineering
- 2001
- Award - Centenary Medal for service to Australian society in research and development in nuclear science and technology
- 2002
- Award - Member of the Order of Australia forservice to the Australian mineral industry through the development and application of nuclear analysis techniques
Related entries
Published resources
Journal Articles
- Anon, 'John Watt: nuclear analyst held up an X-Ray to industry', Impact, 211 (2021), 62, https://www.atse.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/IMPACT-Autumn-2021-med-res-for-web.pdf. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q16097508. Details
- Recipients [of the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science, 2000 - 2017], Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, 2017, https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20171113005832/http://www.science.gov.au/community/PrimeMinistersPrizesforScience/Recipients/Pages/default.aspx. Details
- 'Watt, John', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1514399. Details
Resource Sections
- Ward, C., 'John Watt', in CSIROpedia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), 2011, https://csiropedia.csiro.au/Watt-John. Details
Rebecca Rigby
Created: 19 June 2012, Last modified: 11 January 2024