Professor Donald George

Donald George (1926 - 2014)

Professor Don George AO., BSc, BE., Ph.D. was a Mechanical, Electrical and Nuclear Engineer. He obtained his undergraduate and post-graduate qualifications at the University of Sydney. In 1949 he became an electrical engineering lecturer at Newcastle Technical College, then the University of Technology NSW at Broken Hill.

His next career move was to the United Kingdom where he was an experimental officer with the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell between 1953 and 1956.He returned to Australia to become a senior research officer at the Australian Atomic Energy Commission Lucas Heights between 1956 and 1960.

Returning to academia he was lecturer, then Professor of Electrical Engineering, at the University of Sydney between 1960 and 1974. In 1975 he became Vice Chancellor & Principal of the University of Newcastle, a position he held until 1986. As the institution’s second Vice Chancellor he established much of the wider structure of the place.

Don George was Chairman of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission between 1976 and 1983; Deputy Chairman ANZAAS between I989 and 1995. He was a Fellow of ANZAAS, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

An obituary of Professor Donald George by the University of Newcastle may be accessed at:

https://www.newcastle.edu.au/newsroom/featured/vale-emeritus-professor-donald-george-ao-1926-2014

To access an oral history interview with Professor Donald George please use this link:

https://heritage.engineersaustralia.org.au/wiki/Oral_Histories_Sydney