When Trevor McDougall began studying the ocean in the 1970s he had no idea that his field would become a crucial part of climate science.
The University of New South Wales professor was on Monday awarded the top honour at the prime minister’s prizes for science for his contributions to the field of oceanography and research on the ocean’s role in regulating the climate.
McDougall said he was “a bit overawed” by the $250,000 prize.
“I take it more as an acknowledgment of the importance of the field – climate research and oceanography – and also all the people that I’ve worked with over the years,” he said.
The prizes, now in their 23rd year, are Australia’s most prestigious awards for scientific research, innovation and teaching.
McDougall – the first in his extended family to go to university – earned a scholarship to complete his PhD at the University of Cambridge, studying ocean mixing processes.
He said climate breakdown “became [a] clear and present danger” in the years after he finished his studies. In 1988, a decade after McDougall’s PhD was completed, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established.
McDougall later led a group of researchers who changed a 30-year-old definition for heat in the ocean, improving the accuracy of seawater calculations by a factor of 100. The idea for the change came to him while swimming in a freshwater pond, he said.
For his ocean thermodynamics research, McDougall was recognised as a companion of the Order of Australia in 2018.
McDougall described the ocean as “the thermal flywheel of the climate system”, adding: “Ninety-two per cent of the extra heat that the planet has received from greenhouse warming is in the ocean, so it’s to the ocean that you look for the data to see how fast the planet has warmed.”
Climate-related research and innovation was recognised widely on Monday night.
Dr Adele Morrison, an oceanographer at the Australian National University, received the Malcolm McIntosh prize for physical scientist of the year in recognition of her research into the complex system of ocean circulation and its impact on rising sea level and climate.
Morrison, who studies how warm ocean currents are driving ice melt in Antarctica, said she hoped she could be “a role model for girls and young women considering a career in science”.
“There’s so few women, especially in the senior levels of science, that I think it’s really hard for girls coming through to see someone who might be like them and they can aspire to,” Morrison said. “Especially with the problem of climate change … we need the best and brightest minds.”
Assoc Prof Brett Hallam, a University of New South Wales renewable energy researcher whose technology has improved the performance of solar cells by 10%, was awarded one of two prizes for new innovators. His work is credited as being “one of the most important improvements to photovoltaic technology in the past 10 years”.
A $250,000 prize for innovation was shared by Adj Prof Alison Todd and Dr Elisa Mokany, co-founders of the diagnostics firm SpeeDx; a second was awarded to scientists at the Chrysos Corporation for developing an automated technology that measures the presence of gold and minerals in ore samples.
The prizes were awarded at a ceremony at Parliament House on Monday evening, with the full list of recipients available online.
