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It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Professor Dick
Hunstead on January 30th, following a sudden illness. Dick spent his
whole career at the University of Sydney, from undergraduate student
through to Emeritus Professor, and his enormous contributions to the
School of Physics were recognised in 2011 with the award of the Harry
Messel Award for Excellence.
Dick's research highlights included the discovery of variability of
radio sources at low frequencies;
pioneering work on the calibration of the Molonglo Telescope,
including identifying optical counterparts of radio sources; seminal
work on quasars and radio galaxies, especially giant radio galaxies;
ground-breaking studies of quasar absorption lines at high spectral
resolution; and studies of radio transients, including his most recent
work on the detections of Fast Radio Bursts with the UTMOST
telescope. As well as being an excellent
collaborator and researcher, Dick was a wonderful
supervisor and mentor of an extraordinary number of staff and
Honours, PhD and undergraduate students.
Dick will be
remembered as an excellent researcher and teacher, but more
importantly as a generous, caring scientist who has left an enduring
legacy for generations of staff and students.
A
celebration of Dick’s achievements is scheduled for Friday 14 February.
(Image credit: Vanessa Moss. Text credit: USyd School of Physics.)
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