<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>335390</docID> <postdate>2025-01-04 04:00:43</postdate> <headline>Feted physicist thrives on the thrill of the unknown </headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-335391" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Susan-Scott.-Photo-credit_-Tracey-Nearmy_ANU-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="601" /></p> <caption>Distinguished Prof Susan Scott… “I love the thrill of approaching a problem that you don’t really know the answer to." Photo: Tracey Nearmy/ANU</caption> <p><b>Distinguished Prof Susan Scott has always been fascinated by gravity and the unknown.</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“When I was a small child, humans first landed on the moon,†she says.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I remember watching that on the black-and-white television and seeing the astronauts leaping around, and I was fascinated by the differences in gravity between the moon and earth.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“As time went on, I got more and more interested.â€</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Her curiosity has held her in good stead; she was recently awarded the prestigious George Szekeres Medal of the Australian Mathematical Society.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Just the third woman to receive the award, and the first female recipient from ANU, the award recognises Prof Scott's outstanding contribution to research in the mathematical sciences, including her work on the structure of space-time, singularities, black holes and cosmology. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A world-leading mathematical physicist and pioneer in gravitational wave experiments, she was a part of the international team of 1000 scientists that detected ripples in space and time, known as gravitational waves, for the first time in 2015.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It all started in high school where she studied Newtonian gravity and relativity in university. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Graduating with first-class honours from Melbourne's Monash University, she completed her PhD at the University of Adelaide before being awarded a Rhodes Postdoctoral Fellowship, which took her to Oxford University for four years. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She returned to Australia after being offered a position at ANU as a postdoctoral fellow. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now teaching the next generation of mathematicians and physicists, she continues to decode the great expanse of space and time.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Throughout my career, most of the people doing research mathematics in the academic system have been men, and there have been very few female mathematicians during the time I’ve been around and fewer receive these top recognitions, so it feels very special to be recognised in this way,†says Prof Scott. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Established in 2001, the medal is awarded to someone who has produced an "outstanding contribution to the mathematical sciences".</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For Prof Scott, the award also holds sentimental value.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I have a very special connection with the family,†she says.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Peter Szekeres, George’s son, was Susan’s PhD supervisor.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s a nice aspect about receiving this particular award,†she says.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I’ve known George Szekeres and I’ve worked with his son.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“There’s a lot of connection with that well-known family and mathematics and mathematical physics.â€</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Prof Scott was also the first Australian to be elected as a fellow of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The elite society includes noted scientists such as Stephen Hawking and Nobel Laureates Roger Penrose and Kip Thorne. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Noting throughout most of her career the lack of female examples and role models in mathematics and physics, Susan says she had to ask herself whether she could actually pursue a career in academia as a woman.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s important for young women to see examples of successful women in these physical sciences,†she says.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s a wonderful field of study and we are trying to encourage more girls to take part.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I feel that receiving an award like this is another step in helping young women to have that sense of empowerment, that they can do these things.â€</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Her passion to encourage girls to take part in STEM has seen her participate in initiatives such as Einstein-First and Quantum Girls. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Keen to continue to foster a love of space and time, Prof Scott says the continued exploration of the unknown is incredibly important. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I love the thrill of approaching a problem that you don’t really know the answer to," she says.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Some things you try might fail, like all things, but you also have successes and that’s very empowering to discover something new about science and about the universe that’s not been known or understood before.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s a kind of excitement that’s hard to explain to people who don’t do it, but I love that thrill of the unknown.â€</span></p> </body>