Robyn Williams shares his favourite stories from 50 years of the Science Show
Fifty years ago today, Australia’s longest running science program was born.
Robyn Williams recorded the first part of ABC Radio National National’s science show at the 13th Pacific Science Congress in Canada Vancouver in 1975.
It was the middle of the Cold War and the internet was not yet imagined.
And still, most of the issues discussed at the conference are still true today.
The first episode came to the forefront Scientists were worried about the nuclear arms race, animal extinction rate and the impact of fossil fuels and climate change.
Only to give the 70s Theme of the conference: The future of the human being in the Pacific – and at the beginning of the chapter, the coward theme melody.
Williams told David Marr to David Marr in Live on the night of Radio National, “A few years later I thought ‘bloody hell was a real warning about something that these people should act.” He said.
“The scientists here we need to pay attention and said that there are no people shook me.”
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In the last 50 years, Science Show has continued to provide audiences about scientific discussions, research and important discoveries.
According to an epidemiologist Fiona Stanley and former ABC Board Member and Australian Fiona Stanley of the year, it was also a sign for the Australian science community.
“[The Science Show] Not only for entertainment, it was a really serious contribution to Australian science, “
Professor said Stanley.
To celebrate 50 years, we look at Williams’ favorite stories and the most memorable moments of the show – from determining the medical fraud from learning the opals in Australia.
A Climate Change Warning from 1975
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The first science show, released on August 30, 1975, contained an interview with Peter Ritchie-Calder.
Lord Ritchie-Calder, then The President of the Energy Policy at the United Kingdom Lordlar House, the amazing figures of greenhouse gases were shared spreading from fossil fuels and possible disaster effect in the world climate.
“We’ve been saying this in the UN and elsewhere since 1963, and we’re here in 1975, and people still haven’t moved.”
Interview for Williams It emphasizes how long we have known without effective correcting about climate change problem.
“This was extraordinary,” he said.
“A really important authority who thinks that a concern they had 12 years ago is still not effective.
“Now do this gap for 62 years!”
To reveal a fraud in 1987
When ABC publisher Norman Swan first joined the ABC science team in 1982, there was something in his mind-William McBride, a respected doctor, was credited by connecting the talidomure to birth defects.
DR SWAN He had heard the stories of McBride, who disturbed him after he first came to Australia.
The investigation revealed Sydney’s birth expert for scientific fraud.
“William McBride Story… It was undisputed in 1987 and 1988, and it continued for several years.” He said.
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“There was no doubt where to broadcast.
“Science Show was a unique platform with prestige and legitimacy. [it provided] with [broadcast] Long -shaped documentary style researcher journalism. “
Swan’s exposure to McBride won the Gold Walkley and Australian writers Guild Best Documentary Award.
1998 Conversation About Clitoris
In 1998, Williams released a story about a turning point from the Australian Urologist Helen O’Connell, which found that the anatomy of the clitoris was 10 times larger than he thought before.
Until this discovery, the clitoris was not part of the conversation about medical textbooks or about women’s taste.
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Professor Stanley said that the science show has been long -supported and raised by female scientists.
“[Robyn Williams] … He really pushed women and encouraged women in science. ”
“We were given hard times … but [he] He accepted us. “
This included stories by Professor Stanley and his colleagues about the role of folate in the prevention of Spina Bifida and research on SIDS’s case.
Protecting old trees
Peter Hunt is a In the 1980s, the reporter at the ABC Science Unit discussed a series of important stories about the old forests.
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Since November 1980, this section is a An investigation to record a particular forest in the new Southern Southern Wales. Scientists argued that the region was not enough about the region, while lawyers discussed a definition of “rain forest”.
“Peter, a few science shows in the forests and needed to keep the old ones intact,” in question.
This report that inspired one of the ecologists in today’s world to be a scientist.
“A young David Lindenmayer was listening and decided to buy as a degree of forestry. [about native forest logging]”he added.
Professor Linemayer said that the science show continued as a companion all these years later.
“First of all, I remember listening to the science show when I was studying in Adelaide,” he said.
“I like this show – passionate about new discoveries and hearing scientists.
“It is still the same for me in 2025 – about 40 years later!”
Mesothelioma diaries
Asbestos Disease – Mesothelioma – In the 1970s late ABC journalist Matt Peacock was discussed at the science show extensively.
Williams told Live Live at night, “When we set up the science show, some of our best reports were made by Matt Peacock.”
“Then we were accused of trying to weaken Australia’s lifestyle and initiative.
Ten years later, the tragic effects of the disease It is still felt.
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In 2007, Williams’s neighbor Jim Holmes was diagnosed with mesothelioma after the ceiling of his house collapsed.
Williams asked Dr Holmes if he wanted to record his experience for a day.
Through a series of four -part, Science Show listeners were able to listen to Holmes’ diary entrances about how the disease affected him.
“Jim Holmes said he helped him to deal with.” He said.
He continued: “He was communicating with the public, warned them about the threat of asbestos and took them seriously.”
The first Australians diet
In the last 50 years, the Science Show has focused on the discoveries that revealed how important Australia and their people are to understand the world.
After coming from the north 65,000 years ago, the first Australians lived in the caves in the Kakadu National Park in the Northern Region.
“When I first came to Australia, they thought that the total date for the arrival of the people of Achorijin was 4,000 years.” in question.
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So what ate the native Australians these years ago?
In this section in 2024, Williams participated in Anna Florin from the National University of Australia– He had explored the pieces of coal that preserved the cellular structure of plants near the caves.
According to Dr Florin’s research, the first Australians were very capable of using fire and grinding to prepare years, roots and tubers.
Opal and obsessed with the scientist
Over the years, another theme of the science show was to arouse curiosity, to ask interesting questions and to find surprising answers.
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One of these questions – why Australia has so many opal – confused science journalist Jonica Newby.
In 2024, while working on a story about the origin of mammals in Australia, Dr Newby discovered a geological professor who knew the answer in Lightning Ridge – and had to do with Mars.
“Both the Red Planet and Australia were influenced by the acidification that produces opal,” Williams said. He said.
Inspire the new generation
While the science show tells important stories for half a century, it inspires new generation scientists and students to think greatly.
In 2017, the program issued a poem about Laika, a 14-year-old Zofia Witkowski-Blake, a malicious space dog Laika.
Mrs. Witkowski-Blake now reads science and has its own podcast about insects.
Dün You gave me a real opportunity when you were young to talk about science on the radio, Z Zofia said to Williams in a tracking story at the 2024 science show.
Williams’ career on the radio started with an opportunity (in the case of Apollo 17 Landing in 1972).
Three years later he released the first part of the Science Show.
You can listen to this section entirely below, visit more accents in this week’s part of this week, or subscribe to Podcast to hear many more in the future.
The science show is broadcast every Saturday at Radio National at 12:00, Monday 04:00 and 12:00.
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