support write out at Australia ’s leading scientific institutionCSIROhave led to humanity - leading researchers check their position get rid of . At least one of these , Dr. San Thang , is so attached to his work that he has cover his role volunteer . What make the story even more affecting is that at the same meter Thang was let go , there was conjecture he might share a Nobel Prize in Chemistry .
Even prior to the late twist , Thang ’s story is noteworthy . At 24 he fled Vietnam . These days , on approaching Australia he would have been direct to a detention center , possibly on Nauru or Manus Island , whereabuse and tortureare platitude , and for good stop from settling in the body politic . However , in 1978 Australian response to refugee were very different , and Thang was welcomed .
After completinga Ph.D. at Griffith University , Thang link up CSIRO , the venerable institution which has provided the backbone of Australian scientific research for nearly 90 years . CSIRO famouslysaved the nation ’s agriculturefrom rabbit plagues , collected the signalfrom Armstrong ’s famous “ small step ” andtransformed the printing of bank notesacross much of the world .
Along with Dr. Graeme Moad and Dr. Ezio Rizzardo , Thang helped inventReversible Addition - Fragmentation Chain Transfer ( RAFT ) , a way tomake credit card more adaptable .
Professor Steven Bottle of Queensland University of Technology , who has enforce RAFT engineering in his own research says , “ Polymerization is remove small speck and putting them together like putting together bricks to make a wall . You want a certain length but polymers can be a bite random , distribute around the average but some longer , some brusk . The narrower the feast the good . RAFT make the process less uncontrolled , it can be stopped at the proper point . It provides us with a much great power to make architecture that can be useful . ”
In virtual terms , Bottle pronounce , “ We can make layers , or capsules to carry drugs , or polymers that flourish or contract under specific conditions . It gives molecular builders better materials . ”
sooner this year , the RAFT inventers shared the ATSE Clunies Ross Award , one of the most honored skill and technology honors in Australia .
Therewere rumorsthat they were also in line for something even openhanded : the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry . Thomas Reuters had them ranked asone of three front-runner .
Bottle tell , “ The truth is no one knows , the Nobel Prize committee is instructed to keep it undercover . ” Nevertheless , he believes , “ San would have to be in the mixture ” when the commission meet this yr , and in all likelihood will be for the next yr too .
Such a win would have follow in very ready to hand , since the booty comes with a monetary prize of over a million dollar split between the winners in each category .
Thecutting of $ 111 million over four yearsfrom regime financing has created a jam eventhe income from CSIRO ’s invention of Wi - Ficannot fill . nigh 20 % of the workforce has either been made redundant , or soon will be . talking of shielding frontline researchers from cutback has mean thathighly qualified scientist are doing jobsonce handled by cleaners and administrative assistants .
Thang has been among those let go . However , he has continued supervise Ph.D. students in an honorary electrical capacity . “ Being a scientist , that ’s what I love to do,”Thang told Fairfax newspapers , tot that he did not need to blame CSIRO which “ has give me a very right career ” for the conclusion made under difficult setting .
" In Australia , the doors afford [ for me ] and I still require to be part of CSIRO and elsewhere to make use of my cognition , I want to inspire multitude . "
