Science discoveries and new contraptions that spread from our city to the world
DID you know we’ve always been a brainy bunch here in Melbourne? Here are 11 Melbourne science discoveries and inventions you might not know about.
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DID you know we’ve always been a brainy bunch here in Melbourne?
Here’s 11 Melbourne science discoveries and inventions you might not know about.
A GUN DECOY MISSLE
Melbourne is recognised as Australia’s centre of excellence for aerospace design, manufacture and testing. It’s most successful exports includes the little rocket Nulka which protects US, Canadian and Australia warships from missile attack by acting as a decoy and luring them away from their target.
THE BLACK BOX
In 1953 Dave Warren, a Melbourne chemist, joined an Australian team investigating a series of Comet jet airliner crashes. This inspired Warren’s idea to build a machine that could record the voices in the cockpit as well as data from flight instruments. He designed a prototype at the Australian Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne, using a wire recorder inside a thick asbestos box. Short-sighted management and Australian authorities dismissed Warren’s idea as unnecessary. But others thought it was brilliant. His Black Box recorders were manufactured in the UK and US from 1960. Every commercial plane in the world now carries one
ROTAVIRUS
The cause of severe gastroenteritis was discovered in Melbourne. Today millions of young lives are being saved by vaccines that grew from that work.
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PLASTIC MONEY
Australia’s polymer currency, released in 1988, was developed in Melbourne. It’s now used in more than 30 denominations around the world, helping prevent counterfeiting and providing a longer-lasting alternative to paper cash. Australia’s banknote printing technology is now printing prototype plastic solar cells being developed in Melbourne.
GUM THAT REPAIRS TEETH
Professor Eric Reynolds and his team at the University of Melbourne discovered the cow’s milk extract known as Recaldent, which can repair tooth decay. It is now used as an active ingredient in toothpastes, mouth washes and chewing gum.
NEXT-GENERATION NAPPIES
CSIRO nuclear Physicist Dr Niall Finn led the development of a 3D material, which is now being used inside baby nappies. Known as the 3D UltraAbsorb layer, the material absorbs and contains babies’ runny bowel movements and minimises the spread within the nappy.
LITHIUM FOR THE MENTALLY ILL
Melburnian John Cade in 1949 discovered lithium could treat bipolar disorder. It was the first effective medication available to treat a mental illness. By 1985 his work had saved $17.5 billion in medical costs in the US alone.
‘KIWI’ SHOE POLISH
Melbourne businessman William Ramsay together with his partner Hamilton McKellan invented a shoe polish 1904 and launched it as ‘Kiwi’ in 1906, which quickly became and still remains the most successful shoe polish in the world. He chose the word ‘Kiwi’ because of his New Zealand wife.
THE COCHLEAR IMPLANT
Melbourne’s bionic ear pioneer, Graeme Clark, successfully implanted the world’s first multichannel cochlear implant in 1978. Devices based on his work now have 70 per cent of the global market. Clark’s Melbourne successors are now developing better bionic ear technology, devices to calm an epileptic storm, and a bionic eye.
IVF
Decades of research spent by Melbourne scientists in the wool industry spun out into medical research, leading to Melbourne’s leadership in in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), stem cells, and protein chemistry.
SELF-SHARPENING KNIFE
In 1964 after a US market survey showed 80 per cent of Americans didn’t know how to sharpen a knife, Melbourne design engineer Dennis Jackson invented a spring loaded sharpening block inside a sheath or scabbard, which sharpened the knife every time it was taken out or replaced.
wes.hosking@news.com.au
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