Phillip Law
Australian scientist and explorer (1912–2010)
Phillip Garth Law, AC, CBE, FAA, FTSE (21 April 1912 – 28 February 2010) was an Australian scientist and explorer who served as director of Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) from 1949 to 1966.
Early life
Law was born in Tallangatta, Victoria, the second of six children of Arthur and Lily Law. One of his younger sisters was the traveller and writer Wendy Law Suart. After attending Hamilton High School, he taught in secondary schools, including Melbourne High School where he taught physics and boxing, while studying part-time at the University of Melbourne, earning an MSc in 1941. He was the Melbourne University lightweight boxing champion and also lectured in physics there from 1943 to 1948.
During the Second World War he enlisted in the RAAF, though the university physics department, which was involved in weapons research, insisted that he continue his work there. He did however manage to visit the battle areas of New Guinea on a four-month scientific mission for the Australian Army.
Antarctic exploration
He spent the first of many summers in Antarctica in 1947–8 as a senior research officer on ANARE. He soon became director due to his strong belief in the value of management and educational techniques that ensured that each individual had more than one role. During his directorship, he established bases in Mawson, Davis and Casey, and led expeditions that explored more than 5,000 kilometres (3,100 mi) of coastline and some 1,000,000 square kilometres (390,000 sq mi) of territory.
After retiring from the directorship, he chaired the Australian National Committee on Antarctic Research from 1966 to 1980.
The public source identifies “Phillip Law” as australian scientist and explorer (1912–2010). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Phillip, Australian and scientist.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 12, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2088038. VIAF identifies the subject as 119835913. The Library of Congress control number is n86827242. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1912, 2010, 1949 and 1966.
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This entry incorporates text from “Phillip Law” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.