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Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant Steven Duncan 594 words Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, was the eldest of five sons, and was born in 1901 in Kent Town, near Adelaide, South Australia. His father was a civil servant and his mother was an artist. Oliphant was interested in a career in medicine or chemistry, and in 1919 started studying at the University of Adelaide. However, his physics teacher, Dr Roy Burdon, helped him discover the lovely feeling when there …

…University (ANU). He also helped establish the Australian Academy of Science and became their first President (1954-56). After retiring from the ANU in 1967, he became the State Governor of South Australia (1971-76). Throughout his life, Sir Mark Oliphant has enthusiastically promoted science and technology, and shown great interest in the growth and development of Australian science. Sir Mark Oliphant died peacefully aged 98 at his Canberra home after a short illness, on the 21st of July 2000.