Retiree's Lunch Update April 2022
Written by Dr Richard Thwaites, FRACI CChem
Published 20 May 2022
Guest Speaker: Dave Winkler
Professor David Winkler entertained
retirees at the most recent virtual Retirees’ Lunch with an erudite description
of his remarkable career, entitled “Mentors, Serendipity and Taking Risks”. Many in the audience had worked with Dave at
some stage in their own careers and knew some of the mentors he mentioned, but
few of us had as many or such a diversity of mentors over our own careers. What struck all of us was the remarkable
variety of scientific endeavours Dave had pursued, from identifying small
molecules in outer space to computational chemistry and using AI in connection
with the discovery of drugs, agrochemicals, nanomaterials and biomaterials, with
lots of diversions in between.
Dave spoke of the need to change career
direction every decade or so, to keep the mind fresh and stimulated, and of the
various decision points in his career.
He started out with a BSc in chemistry and
chemical engineering from Monash, followed by a BAppSc in physics from
RMIT. Then while working for the
Department of Mines, Dave embarked on a PhD at Monash in chemical physics,
studying small molecules in space. He
declined the opportunity to pursue a career in naval research at Rushcutters
Bay in Sydney, and became a tutor at the Victoria College of Pharmacy, funded
by the NHMRC instead, and then went on to become a research scientist at DSTO
in Adelaide before taking up positions of increasing seniority at CSIRO. Taking early retirement from CSIRO, he took
up a professorial role in biochemistry and chemistry at La Trobe University, in
the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS) and today combines that
role with an adjunct professorship at MIPS and a visiting professor in pharmacy
at the University of Nottingham in the UK.
Dave spoke of the many mentors who had
influenced his career: he was fortunate
enough to have Nobel Prize-winner, Harry Kroto, as one, and the important thing
about Harry, Dave said, was his persistence in trying to work out the
composition of a black sludge which most people would have thrown away: serendipity at work resulting in the
discovery of Buckyballs (or Buckminsterfullerene).
Other mentors who had influenced Dave
included Peter Andrews, Graham Richards, Tom Spurling, Cathy Foley and Ron
Brown. Dave was particularly influenced
by Graham Richards at Oxford for his ability to mix academia with industry.
Dave spoke about his own various
interactions with industry, particularly while at CSIRO, resulting in the
development of several useful compounds and potential drugs, and giving rise to
a number of spin-off companies like Boron Molecular and Starpharma. He also spoke about the evolution of FACS
(the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies) which flourished under his
Presidency.
Dave has also held senior influential positions
with the RACI Board, and in 2021 was recognised with the award of a
Distinguished Fellowship. More about Dave’s
illustrious career can be found in the March-May 2022 edition of “Chemistry in
Australia”.
We rather unusually had a few technical
problems with Zoom, and although some people possibly thought about giving up,
most of us persisted with logging off and logging on, and benefitted from sitting
through the technical difficulties. We
are also very grateful to Dave for making his presentation while suffering from
COVID.
The June Retirees’ meeting will be via Zoom on Tuesday, June 7th at 12 noon. July's meeting, for those retirees who are attending the Congress in Brisbane, will be held there and hope
to catch up with interstate retirees in person too.
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