Athletes at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games will benefit from the work of The University of Queensland's 2000 Alumnus of the Year.
Professor Martin Green, co-winner of the 1999 Australia Prize is the ninth recipient of the annual UQ Alumnus of the Year award.
He will be honoured at a UQ graduation ceremony on August 29 at Mayne Hall, St Lucia at 6pm at which UQ's Graduate of the Year, computer scientist Karen Henricksen will also be presented.
Established in 1992, the award honours University graduates who have achieved distinction in their chosen fields, outstanding reputations among their peers and support from and for their alma mater.
Previous winners include Nobel Laureate Peter Doherty, Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush, radiation oncologist Dr Rodney Withers and liver researcher Professor Lawrie Powell.
Professor Green and his colleague Professor Stuart Wenham, both of the University of New South Wales, developed solar cells which will generate electricity in each of the homes in the athletes' village for the Olympic Games.
Last year Prime Minister John Howard presented the Australia Prize in the field of energy, science and technology to Professor Green and Professor Wenham.
At the presentation ceremony, Professor Green spoke warmly of his UQ mentor and supervisor of his first-class honours degree in electrical engineering (awarded in 1970) the late Professor Morris Gunn. Professor Green also completed his master of engineering science degree at The University of Queensland in 1971 before being awarded a PhD at McMaster University in Canada in 1974.
Professor Green was appointed to a personal chair in 1986, the first and the only in UNSW's Faculty of Engineering since the University's Foundation. He is also Director of the Centre for Photovoltaic Devices and Systems, a centre with 80 academic, research and support staff, together with postgraduate students.
Professor Green and Professor Wenham have invented or co-invented seven distinct cell technologies over the past 15 years. They have held the world record for solar cell efficiency for more than a decade and worldwide sales of products using their innovative technology are expected to total billions of dollars over coming decades.
Before their ground-breaking work on solar cells in the 1980s, the technology had stagnated for more than 20 years with the world's best solar cells converting only 15 per cent of sunlight into electricity. This was thought to be the highest efficiency that practical cells could achieve.
In 1999, cells produced by the Green and Wenham team at University of New South Wales' Photovoltaics Special Research Centre achieved 24.7 per cent efficiency, the current world record by a large margin.
Their Buried Contact Solar Cells have dominated some of the major solar car races across the world over the past decade. The cells produce up to 30 per cent more energy than competing technologies, they are 20 per cent cheaper to produce, and in 1998 they became the largest manufactured solar cell technology in Europe.
A home solar power package using thin film, multi-layered solar cells developed by the two researchers will be released in 2002. This power will bring a substantial price reduction for those buying into solar power technology.
After being awarded the Lilley Medal for the highest marks in Queensland for science and humanities subjects in the 1965 Senior matriculation examination, he proceeded to The University of Queensland. While a UQ student, his awards included the IREE Sir Ernest Fisk prize for the honours thesis judged the best in electronics and communications.
Professor Green's many honours have included: the Pawsey Medal of the Australian Academy of Science, Edgeworth David Medal, the 1988 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Energy Research, William R. Cherry Award, the Eureka Prize, the 1992 CSIRO External Medal, the Clunies Ross National Science and Technology Award, 1997 Australian Achiever, M.A. Sargent Medal, J.J. Ebers Award, and the Chairman's Award of the 1998 Australian Technology Awards.
Professor Green is a fellow of four learned academies - the Australian Academy of Science, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and The Institution of Engineers, Australia.
He is the author of three books on photovoltaics and co-author of a fourth, several book chapters, numerous reports and conference papers and over 200 papers in international refereed journals.
Media contact: Professor Martin Green, telephone 02 9385 4018 or UQ Alumni Association president Peter Hellen telephone 07 3857 3569.
Enquiries can also be directed to communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au
