OBITUARY

John Watt died on 30/07/2020.

John Stanley Watt FTSE was a world leader in x-ray radioisotope technology. After graduating from The University of Sydney with a Master of Science in 1956, he began work with the Australian Atomic Energy Commission as a Research Officer in the Isotope Division.

He became Head of the Radioisotope Applications Research Section in 1967.

In 1982, he was transferred to the CSIRO Division of Mineral Physics. He was appointed an Assistant Chief of the CSIRO Division of Mineral and Process Engineering in 1985, and returned to full-time research work as a CSIRO Fellow in 1995. He retired from CSIRO in 1997.

Mr Watt was a pioneering thinker who balanced laboratory research and field trials, and excelled in knowledge commercialisation. His breakthroughs in radioisotope x-ray analysis were applied in a range of industries, from mining to manufacturing and photography.

Discoveries he oversaw include a new method for the measurement of mass gas flow rate, a technique to analyse the copper and nickel in ore using gamma rays, and a method for eradicating termites.

Mr Watt was recognised with numerous awards, included a Centenary Medal and a Member of the Order of Australia “for service to the Australian mineral industry through the development and application of nuclear analysis techniques”. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering in 1977 and was editor of the international research journal Nuclear Geophysics.

John Watt was an outstanding example of a scientist who can turn a penetrating understanding of complex physical phenomena to the solution of industrial problems. He died on 20 July 2020, aged 88. He was much loved by his wife Wendell, three children, eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren.