MEM BE RS’ CO NTRI BUT I ON
PLANCKS AND PARSECS by Member Peter Cockrum
With two adult children, four grandchildren and his approach to a good age, Member Peter Cockrum wanted to give his family a simple-to-understand book, and thus legacy, about this journey from the Barossa Valley to Principal Experimental Scientist at CSIRO, as well as an insight into what occupies his mind when thinking about life and the universe.
At CSIRO, Peter found a role model in distinguished toxicologist Claude C. J. Culvenor at the Division of Organic Chemistry, who headed chemical studies into poisonous plants which caused disease in farm animals, collaborating with the Division of Animal Health. Peter worked with Claude for more than 20 years (until Claude’s retirement) rising to his Just before his birth, Peter’s parents were living career ceiling of Principal Experimental Scientist in Brisbane – his father on the staff of General and leaving in his fifties to pursue other interests in MacArthur. At that time, the Japanese were a travel, sales and time shares before retirement. frightening presence in northern parts of Australia, The legacy publication for Peter’s family is entitled so Peter’s Mother went to stay with relatives in ‘Getting this Far: Between a Planck and a Parsec’ Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley and Peter was (and we thank Peter for donating a copy of this to thence born in a hospital in the neighbouring town our Graduate House library). It is short, with three of Angaston. clearly articulated chapters and a conclusion, as Shortly after his birth, his father joined his mother well as a good reading list of books, all of which are and they moved to Mildura, where he and another on his bookshelves at home!
ran the Sunraysia Daily Newspaper, before settling Chapter 1 gives homage to one of Peter’s heroes, in Melbourne and taking a job at The Age for the Albert Einstein, and points to two great scientific remainder of his working life. theories of the 20th Century: Relativity and Moving through various schools in his primary and Quantum Theory. Springing almost fully formed secondary education years, Peter describes himself from the brain of Albert Einstein, Special Relativity as “a very poor student” who left Camberwell High links mass and energy by the speed of light (E=mc2) School without finishing his matriculation to take while General Relativity links time and space into up a Junior Technical Assistant position in the a 4-dimensional continuum, with gravity being CSIRO Division of Animal Health in Parkville. the warping of the continuum such that masses He clarifies, however, that he “improved with time” proportionately move towards each other following and went on to undertake a Master’s Degree in the path of lowest energy. Expressing these concepts Toxicology at RMIT in his forties and topping the mathematically, Einstein predicted that the universe was expanding – indeed this was later course in practical subjects. 34
