Vale – Emeritus Professor John de Laeter

It is with great sadness that I advise that Emeritus Professor John de Laeter passed away in the early hours of this morning.

John de Laeter was a giant of Australian science, a man responsible, more than any other, for continually championing science education and research at Curtin and more broadly in WA.

He fought for science as a lecturer and researcher, as a concerned citizen, and as Vice-Chancellor of Curtin in 1987-88.

His achievements not only had a lasting impact on Curtin, they also touched many people in our State through the role he played in the establishment of Technology Park in Bentley, Scitech and the Gravity Discovery Centre.

Throughout his career he lead groundbreaking research, including measuring the atomic weight of twelve elements, mapping the geological ages of many regions of Western Australia, and demonstrated the potential of an African rock outcrop to contain radioactive material and hence store nuclear waste.
 
John was arguably the first person to put WA science on the map. He was the first Western Australian to be on the CSIRO executive and he played a role in the development of the Cooperative Research Centres program.

In recognition of his contributions, he received many awards, including the Order of Australia in 1992, and he had a small planet named in his honour.  Curtin has also named in his honour the John de Laeter Centre of Mass Spectrometry and the John de Laeter Building, which houses Curtin’s Department of Physics.

John’s activities have been of such breadth and have attained such success that they could have made several great careers.

Curtin has been blessed by its association with John ― he has made the University a richer place ― and he had a real and lasting impact on many Western Australians.

Born on 3 May 1933, John is survived by his wife Robin, daughter Catherine, and sons Mark and Robert. 

For those of you wishing to send wishes to the family or attend the funeral, I understand details will be published this week in The West Australian.

Professor Jeanette Hacket
Vice-Chancellor
Curtin University