Guest speaker at our breakfast meeting on Wednesday 25th March, 2026 was former Ballarat resident Siobhan Tobin who spoke about Women in Physics.
Siobhan currently works as a physicist at the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering at Lucas Heights in Sydney, part of ANSTO (Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation), a government science agency which also runs the Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne.
A former Buninyong Primary School and Ballarat Grammar student, Siobhan completed a bachelor’s degree in physics with First Class Honours at the Australian National University in Canberra. She was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 2019 for postgraduate study at the University of Oxford, where she went on to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in Condensed Matter Physics.
Neutron Scattering is Siobhan's passion and she spoke about OPAL (Australia’s Open Pool Australian Lightwater) multi purpose reactor. The OPAL reactor is a state of the art 20-megawatt multi-purpose reactor that uses low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel to achieve a range of activities to benefit human health, enable research to support a more sustainable environment and provide innovative solutions for industry. These reactors play a vital role in society by functioning as 'neutron factories', producing radioisotopes for cancer detection and treatment, and neutron beams for fundamental materials research.
Siobhan is also a glider pilot, she flew solo for the first time in 2021 and has since done more than 100 solo flights. She also visits a school once a fortnight to assist with projects, maths, empirical reasoning and Einstein First topics.
Siobhan finished her presentation telling us that she met her husband as a result of a Rotary program - National Youth Science Forum (NYSF). He attended NYSF which made him pursue science and studying at Australian National University where they met !!
Siobhan will be back in Ballarat on 9th September for the Victorian Physics Teachers Association 'Girls in Physics' breakfast.
Paul Harris Fellow
Today at our breakfast meeting President Clare Bennett presented club member Rosemary Waghorne with a PHF + 4 sapphires in recognition of her personal contributions to The Rotary Foundation. Many thanks and congratulations Rosemary.
