February 2024

Teacher notes are available here.

Maddy’s love of the sea and everything in it was nurtured by a wild early childhood in the Northern Territory and her beloved grandad, who would take her fishing and snorkelling in the ocean off Busselton, Western Australia. On these trips he would regale her with stories of shipwrecks and share his great curiosity in both the underwater world and in ancient civilisations. By the age of 14,  Maddy was a certified SCUBA diver and had a fascination for archaeology. Her passion for exploring shipwrecks was sparked by the heroic story of two teenagers who, in 1876, saved most of the survivors of a shipwreck off the Margaret River coast in southwest WA, by courageously riding their horses into boiling surf to rescue them.  

Did You Know:

• When she was Assistant Curator at the Shipwrecks Museum in Fremantle, Western Australia, she worked within a group of esteemed maritime archaeologists, legends in their field, but Maddy thought of them as salty pirates and she loved being among them. 

• Maddy’s PhD research centred mainly on Batavia, and explored underwater three-dimensional (3D) photogrammetry of shipwreck sites. The Batavia site is now widely considered to be the holy grail of Australian shipwreck sites. 

• Maddy McAllister is, and probably was always going to be, the #ShipwreckMermaid.

October 2023

Teacher Notes are available here.

Growing up in London, Michelle’s interests frequently bumped up against expectations of girls which she pushed through, including her love of playing soccer and chess, and later, her passion for science and technology.

Professor Simmons is well-known for creating the field of atomic electronics. Since 2000 she established the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology dedicated to the making of tiny atomic-scale devices in silicon and germanium. Her research group at the University of New South Wales is the only group worldwide that can create atomically precise devices in silicon. It was also the first team in the world to develop a working ‘perfect’ single-atom transistor and the narrowest conducting doped wires in silicon.

In 2018 Michelle became Australian of the Year and is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow. She is passionate about encouraging girls to pursue a career in science and technology: ‘Seeing women in leadership roles and competing internationally … gives them the sense that anything is possible’.

Did You Know:

• Michelle Simmons was awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science 2023 the same month this book was released?

• She won the Under 12 Girls’ Chess Championship in the UK

• She’s a pretty good basketball player!

February 2023

Teacher Notes are available here.

"Many people tend to follow the crowd, but never ask ‘Why?’ Suzy Urbaniak taught me so many things. This new way of thinking changed how I view the world."
—Year 6 CoRE Student, 2022

Geologist Suzy Urbaniak is a limbo dancer, a crepe-baker, a risk-taker and a question-asker. Winner of the 2016 Prime Minister’s Prize for her out-of-the-box teaching, Suzy is all about passion, innovation, and doing things your own way.

Because life is what’s out there, in #therealclassroom

Did You Know:

• Suzy introduced the Plate Tectonic Dance to her classrooms which ended with Suzy slamming into the floor, doing the splits, and making the kids’ eyes boggle! Her kids didn’t just try dance moves - they tried maths and chemistry and geology too!

• Suzy led more than 100 field trips, for students and parents and teachers, venturing not only in Western Australia but interstate and internationally too. She wanted them to see science in action!

• Suzy’s students learned the real classroom wasn’t inside a school. It was in the real world.

• She spent her share of the Prime Minister's Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary School to introduce more students to the wonders of geoscience. Together with two great friends, Christian Price and Kate Driver, Suzy established the CoRE Learning Foundation.

VEENA SAHAJWALLA

‘Green’ engineer and recycling champion

ISBN: 9781925893250

October 2022

Teacher Notes are available here.

Scientia Professor Sahajwalla, 2022 NSW Australian of the Year, is founder and Director of the UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre and Director of the ARC Microrecycling Research Hub and Leader of the NESP Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub.

One person’s trash is another person’s treasure! Veena is literally revolutionalising the processes to transform waste into amazing products which she calls ‘re-forming’, and that goes way beyond recycling! She and her team have invented technologies that can do it on a micro level so you could have one in every town in Australia, and the world!

Plus, her Green Steel™️ Polymer Injection Technology uses millions of old car tyres and other plastics instead of coal in steel-making, reducing carbon emissions. No wonder she’s getting awards all over the place!

SKYE BLACKBURN-LANG

Eating bugs for the planet

ISBN: 9781925893694

August 2022

Teacher Notes are available here

Skye Blackburn-Lang always wanted to be an entomologist. Her unusual childhood pets included ‘Fluffy’ the tarantula and ‘Woodstock’ a giant burrowing roach that blows kisses and has starred in video clips.

Skye followed her dream and studied bug science as well as food science at university. As Australia’s first farmer of edible insects, Skye and her trailblazing team, teach people that insects are an eco-friendly, and delicious, protein. Most of all, Skye loves inspiring the next generation to follow their passion to achieve their career dreams, like she has.

Did You Know:

• Australia’s top chefs now use Skye’s ingredients!

• The book includes recipes for her awesome Choc Raspberry Cricket Powder brownies, and Choc Chip Cricket Powder cookies

AJAY RANE

Global crusader for women’s health

ISBN: 9781925893595

July 2022

Teacher Notes are available here.

Professor Ajay Rane is the Director of Urogynaecology at Townsville University Hospital and Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at James Cook University (JCU).

Ajay has devoted his research and practice to treating women with severe childbirth injuries in the some of the world’s poorest countries. For his years of service, Ajay was awarded the Order of Australia in 2013 and the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Award for Humanitarian Work in Women’s Health in 2016.

Today, as one of Australia’s leading experts on female health, Ajay remains committed to educating the community about women’s health.

Did You Know:

• Ajay’s grandparents were poor Indian cotton farmers from the lowest caste who persuaded their village to send one child to high school. Ajay’s father was selected and went on to become a surgeon, returning to his village where he built and ran a hospital.

• Ajay was inspired by his father’s selfless work and became a doctor, specialising in women’s health where he saw the worst kind of neglect. He is dedicated to improving women’s health through training and educating medical staff, particularly in the poorest regions.

• An OAM, Professor Rane has received the highest accolades and holds senior positions at James Cook University and Townsville University Hospital.

EMMA JOHNSTON

Marine Biologist and TV presenter

ISBN: 9781925893762

July 2022

Teacher Notes are available here.

Emma Johnston AO FTSE FRSN is the Dean of Science at the University of New South Wales and President of Science & Technology Australia. She is an authority in marine ecology and a former Pro Vice-Chancellor at UNSW.

Johnston's research group at UNSW investigates the ecology of human impacts in marine systems, combining the diverse disciplines of ecology, microbiology and ecotoxicology to expand fundamental understanding and provide recommendations for management. Her research is conducted in such diverse field environments as Sydney Harbour, Antarctica, the Great Barrier Reef and temperate Australian estuaries.

She is a regular media commentator and, as co-presenter of the Foxtel/BBC television series Coast Australia, which has helped take Australian marine science to an international audience. She also launched a Sydney Harbour cruise called Underwater Secrets' – Sydney Harbour Revealed, which focuses on scientific research into the waterway.

Did You Know:

• He worked with sheep to develop an extremely sensitive test for thyroid hormones that meant newborn babies could be screened for thyroid disorders using only a tiny sample of blood.

• Was the Head of Endocrinology when Westmead Hospital was built.

• From one research project in a small and remote village in Malaysia providing iodine in their water supply, Cres and his team improved the health of thousands of people. The project in Sarawak was the start of Cres’s international fieldwork that would eventually impact on millions of lives. 

• Cres’s research helped explain how iodine deficiency caused problems for unborn children. 

• In 2003 an Australian filmmaker named, Kate Riedl, made a documentary about Cres’s work titled, ‘The Man Who Saved a Million Brains’. Cres was a little embarrassed by the title. He’d only agreed to the documentary to raise awareness of the importance of iodine—he didn’t want it to be all about him.

  But the title was also accurate. Cres’s unwillingness to give up or to ignore other people’s suffering meant that millions of people in Tibet and China as well as other countries were saved from brain injuries.

Did You Know:

• John won first prize in the Victorian Science Talent Quest in the Junior Division when he was in High School.

• He loved karate - and got his green belt with a brown stripe when he was a teenager - before taking up Wu Tai Chi, a much gentler style of martial arts. He eventually achieved his black belt in a gruelling Sanchin exam, although he hadn’t been able to walk for three days afterwards.

• John was told he’d never get a job as a paleontologist and to study geology instead because “there’s plenty of work in mining”!

• He was the first Australian ever to be elected president of the international Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists

Did You Know:

• Alan believes the two most important subjects you can study are English and Maths

• When Alan first started making speeches, he wasn’t sure how to finish them in a personal way so he adopted the line from Star Wars - ‘may the force be with you’ - as it was a nice way to finish a speech and wish his audience positive energy in their life.

• He has a much-loved electric Tesla car that he bought when he first became Chief Scientist. He thought Australia’s Chief Scientist should drive an energy efficient, kind-to-the-environment vehicle.

• When the government asked Alan to stay on as Special Advisor for Low Emissions Technology he agreed and offered to do it for free. He felt it was something he could contribute to the world. Alas, government contracts require an amount so the compromise was $1.00. Australia is now paying Alan Finkel $1.00 a year to help save the world.

Did You Know:

• Eddie Woo only has one rule in his classroom. He calls it the human rule. “It’s very simple. I will treat you like a human and I expect you to treat me like a human, too.”

• He loved almost everything else about high school but not Maths – it just wasn’t his thing. He could do it, just, but it was hard. 

• At the time when Eddie posted his first Wootube video for his seriously ill student, little did he know that he would one day have over one million subscribers to his Wootube video channel or that his videos would be seen by students, parents and teachers around the world more than 71 million times!

• In 2018, Eddie was awarded the Australia's Local Hero Award.

Did You Know:

• Gisela Kaplan was a professor of sociology when a magpie nestling she was hand raising bonded closely with her, followed her about, and learned to speak. Her curiosity about birds became so strong she switched careers to become a field biologist and animal behaviourist.

• Gisela became a Professor – again! – after she wrote her book Australian Magpie: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird. It became a bestseller. She wrote the book not just for scientists but so that the public could be part of the growing knowledge about Australian songbirds.

• In 2020, Gisela made an important discovery: birds that engaged in play behaviour with each other had larger brains than those that didn't or who played only by themselves.

Munjed Al Muderis

From refugee to surgical inventor

ISBN: 9781925893373

Teacher Notes are available here

Munjed has always said life is about ‘making a difference’. His resilience, determination and view of the world as a glass half full, not half empty, has helped him excel in his chosen career.

Munjed fled war-torn Iraq, arriving at Christmas Island in a rickety boat. He spent ten months in a detention centre. Now a surgeon, his fascination for robotics and desire to help others led to the development of a new surgery that inserts a titanium implant into the bone. This means artificial limbs can be permanently attached to the human skeleton, changing the quality of life for amputees and allowing them greater mobility and level of feeling.

Georgia Ward-Fear

Reptile biologist and explorer

ISBN: 9781925893342

Teacher Notes are available here 

From a young age, Georgia Ward-Fear always felt a connection to wild animals and even wilder places. As a child she would watch David Attenborough investigate the mysteries of nature and was inspired to follow in his footsteps.

Georgia’s conservation journey has seen her travel the world, empower young girls to become environmental leaders, and carry out trailblazing work to save native animals from the threat of cane toads. Hers is an inspiring story of an adventurous spirit whose love of the natural world made her a STEM superstar.