Australian Biography - Sir Marcus Oliphant

Sir Marcus Oliphant is an excerpt from the program Sir Marcus Oliphant (26 mins), an episode of Australian Biography Series 1 (7 × 26 mins), produced in 1991.

The Australian Biography series profiles some of the most extraordinary Australians of our time. Many have had a major impact on the nation’s cultural, political and social life. All are remarkable and inspiring people who have reached a stage in their lives where they can look back and reflect. Through revealing in-depth interviews, they share their stories – of beginnings and challenges, landmarks and turning points. In so doing, they provide us with an invaluable archival record and a unique perspective on the roads we, as a country, have travelled.

Australian Biography Series 1 is a Film Australia National Interest Program.

Reading standard: Students read, view, analyse, critique, reflect on and discuss contemporary and classical imaginative texts that explore personal, social, cultural and political issues of significance in their own lives. They will also read, view, analyse and discuss a wide range of informative and persuasive texts and identify the multiple purposes for which texts are created.

Writing standard: Students write sustained and cohesive narratives that experiment with different techniques and show attention to chronology, characterization, consistent point of view and development of resolution.

They write persuasive texts dealing with complex ideas and issues and control the linguistic structures and features that support the presentation of different perspectives on complex themes and issues.

Speaking and listening standard: Students, when engaged in discussion, compare ideas, build on others’ ideas, provide and justify other points of view, and reach conclusions that take into account of aspects of an issue.

They draw on a range of strategies to listen to and present spoken texts, including note-taking, combining spoken and visual texts, and presenting complex issues or information imaginatively to interest an audience.

The activities in this learning module are relevant to the Interdisciplinary Learning strand of Level 6 Communications (Listening, viewing and responding standard; Presenting standard) and Thinking Processes (Reasoning, processing and inquiry standard; Creativity standard).

The activities are also relevant to the Physical, Personal and Social Learning strand of Level 6 Interpersonal Development (Building social relationships standard; Working in teams standard) and Personal Learning (The individual learner standard; Managing personal learning standard).

This material is an extract. Teachers and Students should consult the Victoria Curriculum and Assessment Authority website for more information.

While at Adelaide University in 1927, Sir Marcus Oliphant was accepted by Cambridge University, where he became part of a team whose task was to split the atom. Following the onset of World War 2, Oliphant’s research focus changed to support the war effort. Initially, he was in charge of a team that successfully developed microwave radar. Then, in November 1943, Oliphant moved to the USA to work on the Manhattan Project — the development of the first atomic bomb. Nazi Germany was at the point of developing its own atom bomb and so the race was on. Initially, the bomb was developed for use against Nazi Germany; but after their surrender before the bomb was ready, it was used to force the Japanese to surrender. Two bombs were dropped in August 1945 with devastating results — one on Hiroshima and the other on Nagasaki. They remain the only two atomic bombs ever used in warfare.

After the war he returned to Australia, where he publicly opposed the development of atomic weapons as a misuse of atomic power.
'I suddenly realised that anybody who has a nuclear reactor can extract the plutonium from the reactor and make nuclear weapons, so that a country which has a nuclear reactor can, at any moment that it wants to, become a nuclear weapons power. And I, right from the beginning, have been terribly worried by the existence of nuclear weapons and very much against their use’.

On his return to Australia Oliphant became the first Director of the Australian National University’s Research School of Physical Sciences. After retiring from the ANU in 1967, Oliphant became the State Governor of South Australia in 1971.

Sir Marcus Oliphant retired to Canberra in 1976 and died in 2000.

1. 1. Describe the significant event Sir Marcus Oliphant is associated with and the role he played.
   2. Explain what he means by ‘double personality’.
   3. Identify the issue that he cannot reconcile.
   4. Describe your impressions of this scientist.
2. 1. Research Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Atomic Bomb and find fifteen different facts for each.
   2. Conduct a class debate on the topic, ‘Science is too important to be left to scientists’.
3. Write a letter to the editor, media article or speech presenting your point of view on the issue, ‘Science is too important to be left to scientists’.

Go to Australian Biography and select Sir Marcus Oliphant