Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I'm thrilled to congratulate Professor Matthew Bailes, an extraordinary astronomer from the electorate of Kooyong, who was yesterday named the joint winner of the Shaw Prize for the discovery of fast radio bursts, mysterious pulses of energy from beyond the Milky Way. Professor Bailes and his colleagues discovered a pulse of energy a trillion times brighter than anything seen in our galaxy from a billion light years away—a pulse lasting a fraction of a second. At first, other astronomers thought that this discovery was an anomaly caused by a thunderstorm, but they were wrong.

Professor Bailes works at the dynamic and innovative Swinburne University in my electorate of Kooyong. He founded Swinburne's Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, which is home to about 80 research staff and PhD students. Next month he'll supervise four girls from local schools in his work experience program. He's now the director of the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery and greatly enjoys public outreach and inspiring students to pursue careers in STEM. I know of at least two young women from my electorate who have this year commenced science degrees in physics. Professor Bailes's work will inspire them both.

The Shaw Prize is sometimes a precursor to the Nobel Prize, and the people of Kooyong and all Australians will wish Professor Bailes every future success. This prestigious award should bring attention to the incredible opportunities for scientific research in this country.