Substantia 4-5 - Goodnight and Goodluck - The End of a Building at the Australian National University

Aug 27, 2026

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A reflective editorial records the demolition of the former Applied Maths Building at the Australian National University, emphasizing what the building enabled for decades of interdisciplinary research and collaboration. It traces the site’s transformation from the Department of Geophysics and Geochemistry to the Research School of Earth Sciences, then to Applied Mathematics, highlighting landmark scientific contributions and international impact. The editorial frames the loss as a symbolic act, questions the priorities behind campus decisions, and argues that the research legacy should endure beyond the physical structure.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time3 min

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Editorial

Goodnight and Goodluck: The end of the Applied Maths Building

Research legacy across geosciences and applied mathematics

Demolition, heritage, and the future of universities

Firenze University Press [www.fupress.com/substantia](www.fupress.com/substantia) Editorial Goodnight and Goodluck1 : The End ofa Building atthe Australian National University 2 May 31 marked the end of the old Applied Maths Building at ANU. We moved into it in 1971, 47 years ago. For about twenty years before that it had already been home to the famous Department of Geophysics and Geochemistry. Before the war, when both Lake Burley Griffin and ANU were dreams, there were nurses quarters close by and the old hospital. This building has been a center of research for 70 years: there from the very beginning of ANU. With a magnificent view over the Lake and the Brindabella mountains, the building occupied a prime site on campus, where the Freeway crosses the creek. Before that the Ngunawal peoples who owned this country forever caught fish where the Molonglo river turned and passed by Black Mountain. There was no asbestos. The building worked very effectively for collaboration between scientists. It had been declared a major heritage site twice. No building will replace it for the foreseeable future. Academics will just have to double and triple up. Its demolition is a significant, symbolic act of barbarism. As Henry Lawson suggested: “Something ought tobe said. We should have a party or something”. There are some lines from Hamlet that are apt. “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below; Words without thoughts never to heaven go”. Thoughts, not words. That’s the thing . Apart from lamenting the good old days, as one does, why on earth could it matter - for the future of universities? First of all remember that in those early times the ANU was an Institute of Advanced Studies, a place of cutting edge research, a place in which undergraduate teaching was a diversion from the main game, and not allowed. And research was done in this building of a quality no one imagined. It was first the ANU Dept. of Geophysics and Geochemistry founded by the eminent applied mathemati- cian, John Jaeger. Later it became the Research School of Earth Sciences, one of the leading Schools in its disciplines in the world. For nearly twenty years they did their work here. Ted Ringwood’s high pressure laboratory was the Tower block in the center. From that work Ted invented Synroc, a new way of disposing of nuclear waste. Then there was Bill Compston who developed mass spectrometry that began in Western Australia and measured the age of the Earth. Then Merv Patterson was there. And Ross Taylor, known for his analysis of rocks that came back from the moon, and for work on the origin of planets. Paleomagnetism research was so important for Carey’s theory of continental drift. It was still heretical even in the early 1960s. Ted’s idea was to put the nuclear waste back into synthetic rocks which resembled those that the uranium originally came from. The competitive technology was to put it inside solid glass and bury it in the ocean. Ted missed out because the competition was owned by Rockwell International which is an organization that makes hydrogen bombs and whose CEO was a friend of President Reagan. Reagan and the Head of Rockwell had adjoining ranches in California. Rockwell pushed glass disposal. Glass won but to no good purpose because thesea water cracked the glass. If Ted had won, the world would have been a better place. After Earth Sciences moved, our Department of Applied Mathematics came in. It made a lot of remarkable contributions in the Natural Sciences over the years. And a lot of applied experimental and development work was done over and above only mathematics. We were scientists and engineers who worked in the enabling disciplines, physical, colloid and surface chemistry that underlie all of biology and chemical engineering. For example the Department’s laboratories did the first measurements on molecular forces, something Isaac Newton tried to do in the 1600s and failed. It did Substantia. An In

FAQs

What event is discussed in the editorial?

The editorial discusses the end and demolition of the old Applied Maths Building at the Australian National University and the move into the building in the early 1970s.

How does the editorial describe the building’s historical research role?

It presents the building as a long-standing research center, linking major work in geosciences and applied mathematics, including influential laboratory achievements and international collaborations.

Why does the editorial criticize the demolition decision?

It calls the demolition a significant, symbolic act, questioning why a functioning heritage-like research space is removed while funding is being cut and plans for replacement are delayed.

Aug 27, 2026

Upload by Noah