Tim Flannery

Dr Tim Flannery is one of Australia's best-known scientists
as well as being one of our best-selling writers. His views
are often provocative, both intellectually and socially.

Tim is the Principal Research scientist at the Australian
Museum in Sydney. He started out, though, doing a degree in
English. After graduating, he found a temporary job at the
Museum of Victoria in their Vertebrate Paleontology
department. This led him to a second degree in Earth
Sciences, and from there to a doctorate with the Zoology
department at UNSW.

He is renowned academically for his research into the
mammals of Melanesia, publishing several acclaimed books on
the subject…but he's best known by the broad public as the
author of The Future Eaters, one of the best-selling
non-fiction books in Australia and New Zealand. That book
won a shelf-load of prizes, including the Age book of the
year in 1995 and the inaugural South Australian premier's
literary award in 1996. His interests aren't restricted to
biology, though. Tim has also written 1788, a bestseller
about the early years of British colonisation, editing and
republishing contemporary accounts, and he has another such
book in the pipeline.

Tim appears regularly on radio and is often called on as
expert commentator on a wide range of environmental and
social issues. He's made numerous television appearances and
is currently shooting a television series for ABCTV based on
The Future Eaters. He has written articles for a broad range
of journals from literary magazines to specialist scientific
journals and mass-circulation magazines.

He has recently accepted an offer to be Visiting Chair of
Australian Studies at Harvard University in 1998.