is a quantum physicist - and female.
I am pleased that a female scientist has been recognised in this way but it also makes me aware that this "award" is highly political.
Yes Professor Michelle Simmons is working on a "super computer" - something that can solve thousands upon thousands upon thousands of possibilities at once. She is working on the sort of computer that will be able to solve the sort of problems that could take humans thousands of years to solve.
I only have a vague idea of the sort of thing she is doing. I can imagine there are all sorts of applications in science - and that many of them will be of benefit to humanity.
But what of the good professor herself? Is she going to be able to carry on with both roles this coming year? From today she will be expected to not just do her research, teach and supervise but give time to being a role model, encourage, lecture across the country, pronounce on all manner of things - and not all of them related to her work - and generally give up more time than most people recognise.
Oh yes, being the "Bod of the Year" as someone described it to me has a definite downside for someone in her position. It's going to be a tough year.
Three years ago a friend of mine got an AO. It wasn't entirely unexpected and it was deserved. It hasn't made a great deal of difference to her life. She was asked to give a few more speeches, went on working on what she had been working on and gave me a rueful shrug at the fuss made by family and friends. As she pointed out it was nothing like being "Bod of the Year" and she was glad nobody had ever come close to suggesting she might be.
"It's a lot of work."
I wonder how many people will even recognise that?
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So interesting that you should describe the award as "highly political". I felt that the award was overwhelmingly political this year. I don't recall feeling that way in previous years. Was it just that the cynic in me was super tuned this year? It's no coincidence that the winners of the awards are people who fit the government's current agenda.
There were nominees for whom I thought would be able to achieve a significant amount for their causes by winning an award, unlike the winner you have highlighted for whom the award is possibly a burden. It is a shame that last year's winners were not able to reflect in more depth about what their Australian of the Year Award had given them.
I don't begrudge or disrespect the nominees or winners of the Australian of the Year Awards but the rethoric that went with this year's televised ceremony made me nauseous. I couldn't watch it in the end. Is it just me?
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