Education

摘要

Can you imagine a chemistry lecture that ends in enthusiastic clapping, and students coming down to the front to take group photos with the lecturer - and a huge balloon? And yet that is what happened at the RACI Hartung Youth Lectures during National Science Week this year. What made the lecture so magical? And who was Hartung? Ernst Johannes Hartung was born in Melbourne in 1893. He completed his science degree and his Doctor of Science at the University of Melbourne. He then dedicated his whole life to the university, first as a lecturer in chemistry in 1919 and then as the Professor of Chemistry, a post he held for 27 years. Students loved his lectures - he was famous for his spectacular and intriguing demonstrations. He even developed special optical lenses to project his demonstrations onto a screen, so that his students could see them more clearly, and wrote a book on how to do this. Professor Hartung also was very active in what was then known as the Australian Chemical Institute, serving as its President for three terms.