Burns

Professor John Carlyle Burns receives his BH Neumann Award from Professor Neumann, at a function held in the University of Canberra Council Room, on 29 June 1992. This was the first BH Neumann Award to be presented. John was for many years Professor of Mathematics at RMC Duntroon and inaugural professor at ADFA and was the founding Treasurer and Secretary of AMOC.

Citation

Professor Burns was born in New Zealand and after completing his BSc and MSc at Auckland he was awarded a post-graduate scholarship and spent two years at St John's College, Cambridge, under supervision of Sir James Lighthill, before being awarded a Research Scholarship at the University of Manchester.

He lectured at Auckland University, Victoria University of Wellington and the Australian National University before joining the Faculty of Military Studies at Royal Military College, Duntroon, as Professor of Mathematics in 1969. He was Dean of the Faculty from 1973 to 1977.

His achievements include eight years as Foundation Secretary/Treasurer of the Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee; membership of the organising committee for the Australian hosting of the 1988 International Mathematical Olympiad; and authorship of many questions for the Australian Mathematical Olympiad, Telecom Junior and Senior Contests and the Asian Pacific Mathematics Olympiad.

He is also author of innovative discussion notes for the Telecom Correspondence Program and co-author of the Deductive Reasoning via Euclidean Geometry student notes in the Enrichment Stage of the Mathematics Challenge for Young Australians. He has been a consistent supporter of the Australian Mathematics Competition and its activities.

Peter O'Halloran

29 June 1992