In March 2017, the University received gift from the late Dr Robert D Hill and Mrs Judith Hill. In recognition of the Donors generous Gift, the University has determined to establish the Robert D Hill Scholarship for postgraduate students in physics with a preference for nuclear, atomic, molecular, particle or plasma physics.
Dr Robert D Hill was an alumnus of the University, graduating with BSc (1935), MSc (1936) and DSc (1947). Robert Hill had an extensive career in teaching and pure research, particularly on defence matters. During World War Two, he worked in Australia and England, contributing to developments in radar systems. In Australia, he worked at the CSIRO's Radiophysics Laboratory in 1943, and contributed to the development of optical munitions. Between 1940 and 1947, Robert Hill was a lecturer in physics, then called natural philosophy, at Melbourne University. In 1947, the Hill family, including son Bobby, left for the United States. Robert Hill's departure created a significant gap in the emerging discipline of nuclear physics at Melbourne University. In around 1955, he became Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and in 1965, he moved to Santa Barbara, California, to work on anti-ballistic missile systems for the General Research Corporation, a private company on contract to the US Defence Department. Later he became a consultant on anti-ballistic missile systems with the Office of Naval Research. From 1990 until his retirement in 2000, Robert Hill was based at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Robert Hill was a world authority on lightning. The scholarship is awarded in appreciation of the initial intellectual training obtained by Dr Hill in specialised science at the University.
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