CoEPP congratulates Professor McKellar for receiving Australia's highest honour—the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)—in this year's Australia Day Honours. He received it for “eminent service to science, particularly the study of theoretical physics, as an academic, educator and researcher, through seminal contributions to scientific development organisations, and as an author and mentor."
Professor McKellar is an internationally recognised theoretical particle physicist who is famous for the “He-McKellar-Wilkens” phase, a seminal quantum physics theory. His work has applications in photography, atmospherics physics and geophysics, and implications for pure mathematics. His many other achievements include being an instrumental member of the first Australian Research Council, Foreign Secretary of the Australian Academy of Science and contributed to the United Nations Conference on sustainable development. Later this year, he is set to become the first Australian and first southern hemisphere president of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP).
CoEPP salutes Professor McKellar for this outstanding achievement.
For a full list of all the recipients, see http://www.gg.gov.au/australia-day-2014-honours-lists