Sir Rupert Horace Myers, (21 February 1921 – 21 February 2019) was an Australian

metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

, academic and university administrator, who was the third

vice-chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...

of the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

from 1969 to 1981. He was the second person to be awarded a PhD by an Australian University. He died on 21 February 2019 on his 98th birthday.

Honours

In the New Year Honours of 1976, Myers was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for his work as Vice-Chancellor of the University of New South Wales. He was further recognised for his "service to education, science and the community" on being knighted as a

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

In the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1981 and, in the Australia Day Honours of 1995, he was appointed an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for his efforts in promoting "innovation and commerce in the fields of science technology and engineering." On 1 January 2001, he was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

for his "service to Australian society and science."

References

1921 births 2019 deaths Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian corporate directors Australian Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Australian metallurgists Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering Officers of the Order of Australia People from Melbourne Recipients of the Centenary Medal University of Melbourne alumni Vice-Chancellors of the University of New South Wales {{australia-academic-bio-stub