Statistics

In 2005 the service owned 50 aircraft, and operated 22 bases with 495 full time and 145 part-time staff members. Each day, on average, the service:

traveled 53,491 kilometers by air; performed 159 landings; saw 643 patients; performed 91 emergency evacuations and conducted 202 telehealth sessions.

Science and technology

The European history of Australia was scientific from the very start. Australian science began with amateur naturalists collecting, describing, and classifying the unique flora and fauna that so amazed the earliest European explorers. It was as if another planet had been found. William Dampier, the first Englishman to tread (ступить) on Australian soil (1688 and 1699), gathered some plant specimens (образцы) to take back home. His specimens are preserved in Oxford. Australian botany was thus born.

Further expeditions by French scientists (Napoleon Bonaparte was keen on Australia's flowers and marsupials) and, of course, by the English explorer Captain James Cook, were conceived (задуманы) as quests (поиски) for astronomical and biological discovery. Capt. James Cook's first landfall (место высадки на берег) in 1770 was named Botany Bay to celebrate the large number of new plants discovered there. Initial efforts to acclimatize useful plants and animals, including the familiar flowers and birds of Britain, were followed by efforts to eradicate pests (вредители) and weeds (сорняки) from pioneer farmlands.

Australia today maintains its place in the forefront (на переднем краю) of fields such as immunology, biotechnology, solar power, drug design, astronomy and astrophysics, plant biotechnology, solar engineering, nanotechnology and many other fields. Around 200 biotechnology companies operate in Australia - more per capita than in the United States.

Australia is a hub (центр) of expertise for its region. Many of its scientists are involved in South East Asia, pioneering studies of cereal crops (зерновые культуры), hydrology, solar energy and even the prediction of volcanic eruptions. Major programs linking Australia with China (fuel technology, genetics) and India (catalytic converters, astronomy) continue to flourish.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), begun in 1926 as the federal government's research agency.

Australia is one of the world's key astronomical centers, thanks to its clear dry air, and clear wide view of the southern skies. The Mills Cross radio telescopes originated in Australia. The CSIRO's radiophysics laboratory pioneered the use of the interferometer in 1946, while the 64-meter dish at Parkes, New South Wales, identified the first known quasars in 1960.

Australian medical innovations

In 1915 two Australians produced Aspro, a high-grade (высокой очистки) aspirin product that dominated the international market.

In 1926 a Sydney doctor invented the original heart pacemaker (кардиостимулятор).

In 1941 penicillin was extracted and refined by a team led by Australian Howard Florey. It went into production in time to aid casualties in the Second World War.

In 1961 two Australians built the first ultrasound scanner.

In 1979 Professor Graeme Clark invented an implant, designed to help the hearing-impaired and profoundly deaf.

Relenza, the world’s first anti-influenza drug, was developed in 1996 and approved for release in Australia in 2000. It is now sold in more than 51 countries.

In 1998 a team of scientists developed the Solarscan, which can quickly detect cancerous sunspots.

Snapshots of Australian innovations

The “black box” («черный ящик» на самолете)

The first "black box" flight recorder was designed by David Warren of the Aeronautical Research Laboratories, Melbourne, in 1958.

David Warren - Inventor of the Black Box Flight Recorder

Space pictures

In 1969, an Australian radio telescope in Parkes, New South Wales transmitted the first pictures of the moon landing to the world.

Radio telescope in Parkes

Polymer banknotes

Australia was the first country in the world to introduce polymer banknotes. In addition to their enhanced security, in Australia the notes last four times longer than the paper notes they replaced. At the end of their life they may be recycled for use in a variety of plastic products.

Nano-technology (нанотехнология)

In 1987, Australian scientists produced the world’s first nano-machine, a device so tiny that its parts are the size of molecules. The biosensor machine can be used to run medical checkups from within the body, analyse pollutants (загрязняющие вещества) or power minute (миниатюрные) computers.

“AUSTRALIAN SCIENTISTS CREATE A NANOMACHINE

A team of Australian researchers has made a scientific advance of world significance by building a functioning nanomachine, a device with moving parts that are only molecules in size, the Minister for Science, Mr Peter McGauran announced today. The device is a biosensor a combination of biology and physics, designed to detect substances with extreme sensitivity. Its central component is a tiny electrical switch, an ion-channel, 1.5 billionths of a metre in size…”