The world’s foremost technical organisation has given the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF) at the ANU Research School of Physics global recognition for its technical significance.

On 26 February 2025, IEEE awarded a Milestone to HIAF, making it only the third Australian facility to receive the honour, alongside the iconic Parkes Dish and the Tidbinbilla Deep Space Tracking Station.

The Global President of IEEE, Professor Kathleen Kramer, travelled to Canberra from San Diego in the United States to unveil the plaque, which commemorated the history of HIAF.

“These celebrations are very joyful to me … It's an opportunity not only to celebrate, but to observe and preserve the groundbreaking technical research and developments and the women and men behind them that have shaped the trajectory of technology, our communities and our institutions,” Professor Kramer said.

“This ion accelerator facility is a unique scientific facility, with some of the most accurate beam control and detection technology in the world, driven by Australia's largest and highest energy ion accelerator."

 “The facility has aided humanity in achieving technical excellence in diverse domains throughout its history. No wonder that researchers from all over the globe have come here to use the power and precision of this heavy ion accelerator to explore a wide range of topics! And I particularly appreciate the insights that were provided during the tour, about the engineering that was applied to the facility to extend it and make it more and better than it was or even originally designed to be,” she said.

The award was accepted by the Scientific Director of HIAF, Professor Mahananda Dasgupta, who emphasised the confluence of engineering and physics that underpins HIAF’s success. She also paid tribute to the previous staff and student of HIAF.

“We, the next generation, stand on the shoulders of the previous generation, and we learn from them: there is a strong ethos of that."

"Secondly, the researchers, users, technical staff and professional staff, they all put their brains together to solve problems. This confluence leads to out-of-box thinking, leading to stunning innovations."

“There are innovations which have taken up by the industry and also by other laboratories - they have led to real and lasting benefits to the nation in science, industry and society,” she said.

CITATION

The HIAF Citation is as follows: “Commissioned in 1973, the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF) has empowered leading-edge research in nuclear spectroscopy and structure, fission and fusion studies, transient fields and hyperfine interactions, and accelerator mass spectrometry. Using a 15 million volt tandem electrostatic accelerator and a 6 million volt linear accelerator, the HIAF has advanced our understanding of astrophysics, biomedicine, climate change, and the impact of nuclear fission products on the environment.”

IEEE MILESTONE PROGRAM

The IEEE Milestones program was established in 1983 and honours significant technical achievements in all areas associated with IEEE. The program recognises the technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity found in unique products, services, seminal papers and patents. Each milestone recognizes a significant technical achievement that occurred at least twenty-five years ago in an area of technology represented in IEEE and having at least regional impact. As of 2016, more than a hundred and sixty IEEE Milestones have been approved and dedicated around the world.