Obituaries Australia

Mr Jack W. Blamey, Visiting Fellow and previously a Senior Fellow, in the research School of Physical Sciences, died suddenly on Wednesday 13 August, 1986.

Jack Blamey was a dedicated scientist and engineer, always willing to assist others in both engineering problems and personal maters — a person of high scientific integrity and considerate of others.

Jack began his career as a school teacher, but after gaining an MSc at Melbourne University he worked on optical aspects of munitions in the war. Following the war he worked on cyclotron and proton synchroton accelerators at Birmingham with Mark Oliphant who, in 1950, recruited him to the staff of the newly-formed ANU Research School of Physical Sciences.

Jack Blamey played a major role in the designing of the School's Homopolar Generator (HPG), especially its magnet. He made a major contribution to the engineering design of many associated projects. The HPG was decommissioned in December 1985 but the "Heliac", a large and innovative plasma physics apparatus now under construction, is another project which owes much to Jack Blamey's engineering design.

Jack Blamey retired as a Senior Fellow in 1979 but made a valuable continuing contribution as a Visiting Fellow in the Plasma Research Laboratory almost to the end.

Jack made a very significant contribution to the Research School — an unselfish contribution for physics and for others. The best measure of the extent of his contribution is therefore found in the esteem and affection felt by his close colleagues.