What do engineers do?
Engineering at Melbourne has had its fair share of innovation – from making Bluetooth work effectively to assisting patients with mobility problems, to irrigation and dams and their use in water management and targeted drug delivery.
Engineering at Melbourne
- The Plastic Bank Note
First circulated in Australia in 1988 to commemorate Australia’s bicentenary, and now used in more than 20 countries around the world, the plastic bank note is a vast change from the paper-based notes of the past and have made counterfeiting of currency vastly more difficult.
The invention was a result of work by world–renowned polymer scientist, Professor David Solomon who is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the Melbourne School of Engineering. Solomon’s work continues to be recognised, most recently with the award of the Victoria Prize in 2006 – Victoria’s highest award for science, for this and other contributions to science particularly in the area of polymer chemistry.
Solomon is one of an elite group of Australian scientists admitted to the Royal Society, whose 1300 members include Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. - First internet connection in Australia - June 1989
Fellow of the Melbourne School of Engineering, in the Department of Computer Science, (Kevin) Robert Elz is credited with pioneering Australia’s connection to the intenet.
The subject line of what was probably the first message into Australia was straight to the point - ‘Link Up’, it said. The message was sent by Torben Nielsen (In Hawaii), who had been funded by NASA to set up internet links with countries throughout the pacific.
Professor Leon Sterling, says Melbourne University was chosen as the site for the nation’s first connection because they were leading Australia with UNIX technologies.
More information and video at: http://newsroom.melbourne.edu/studio/ep-31
- The Green Internet
Researchers at the University of Melbourne are investigating energy consumption in the Internet and how to make it more energy efficient. This research focuses on developing an understanding of technological barriers to growth of the telecommunications network and a systematic analysis of the potential environmental impact of the Internet. While the energy consumption of the Internet is currently only a small fraction of the world’s total electric power budget, continued exponential growth of the Internet capacity, especially in developing nations will mean that the Greenhouse footprint of the Internet may soon become significant.
For more innovative engineering
- Read about our current major Research projects, including GiFi, the Bionic Eye and green cement