Professor Nalini Joshi named as Bragg Member of RiAus

Professor Nalini Joshi AO from the School of Mathematics and Statistics has today been awarded a Bragg Membership of the Royal Institution of Australia.

Named after the prominent Australian scientists and Nobel Laureates, Sir William Henry Bragg and Sir William Lawrence Bragg, the honorary Bragg Membership is the highest category awarded by the Royal Institution of Australia. It recognises excellence in scientific achievement and commitment to science in Australia.

Professor Joshi said: "The list of Bragg fellows includes many of my heroes and I am humbled to have been selected to join them at the Royal Institution of Australia. William Bragg was a mathematician as well as a physicist and a great communicator.

"I am happy to see the maths that I do associated with the mission to bring 'science to people and people to science'."

Professor Joshi holds a Payne-Scott Professorship at the University of Sydney and is Vice-President of the International Mathematical Union. Her research focuses on mathematical methods to study systems that arise as universal models in modern physics.

In 2016 she was appointed an officer of the Order of Australia. Professor Joshi was the University of Sydney’s first professor of mathematics and our first female Head of School of Mathematics. She holds a PhD and MA from Princeton University and a BSc (Hons) from the University of Sydney.

Chairman of the Royal Institution of Australia, Peter Yates AM FTSE, said: "In Australia we are fortunate to have so many remarkable scientists and scientific leaders who are each making a significant contribution to the future of this country and beyond.

"We are pleased to welcome our new inductees and to celebrate the achievements of these inspirational people."

There are now 51 Bragg Members of the Royal Institution of Australia.

On behalf of Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, Mr Yates today formally inducted Professor Joshi alongside Professor Alex Zelinski from the University of Newcastle, Dr Catriona Wallace from Artificial Intelligence FinTech and Emeritus Professor Helene Marsh, Vice-President and Secretary (Biological Sciences) of the Australian Academy of Science.