Professor Don W George

Professor Donald William George was born in 1926.

VICE-CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE: 1975 TO 1986

Professor D.W. George, formerly of the University of Sydney, succeeded Professor J.J. Auchmuty as Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Newcastle in 1975.

The Council of the University decided at its meeting on 14^th March 1974 to invite Professor George to accept the office. He subsequently accepted. At the time of his appointment, Professor George was a graduate in Science and in Engineering of the University of Sydney with First Class Honours in Electrical Engineering. His Doctoral degree for research in the field of Plasma Physics was conferred by the University of Sydney in 1966.

Professor George began his academic career in 1949 as Lecturer in Electrical Engineering at Newcastle Technical College. He subsequently joined the staff of the School of Electrical Engineering in the N.S.W. University of Technology at Broken Hill before accepting an appointment as Research Officer with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Commission and the Australian Atomic Energy Commission working first at Harwell and later at Lucas Heights.

Following his return to academic life in 1960, Professor George became Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering in the University of Sydney and in 1969 was appointed to the P.N. Russell Chair of Mechanical Engineering in that University. Originally in the area of nuclear energy, Professor George’s research interests have moved into the field of direct energy conversion and, particularly, into the area of solar energy, and he is currently a consultant to the Federal Minister of Minerals and Energy in this area of growing national and international interest.

At the time of his appointment, Professor George was a member of the Institute of Defence Science and of the Academy of Science Committee on Solar Energy. He was, at the time of his appointment, the author of more than fifty scientific papers and reports in these research fields and is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, London, and is an Associate of the Australian Institute of Physics.

Professor George has been actively involved in administration within the University of Sydney where he is at present a Fellow of the Senate and Chairman of the Professorial Board. In 1970-71 he was President of the Sydney Association of University Teachers.

At the time of his appointment, Professor George was 47 years of age and married with two children. His wife is a graduate in Arts and a Diplomate in Social Studies of the University of Sydney. At that time, their son was a final year student in Chemical Engineering and their daughter had commenced a degree in Education in the University of Sydney.

Don George passed away in 2014. Read his obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald, 6 February 2014.