33 



REPORTS OF RESEARCH COMMITTEES 



SECTION A 



SOLAR PHYSICS COMMITTEE. 



Resolutions carried at Brisbane, 1909 : — 



(a) That the Australian Association for the Advancement of 

 Science records its unanimous support to the movement for the 

 establishment of an Observatory in Australia devoted to the study 

 of Solar Physics, which has been so strongly advocated by the 

 International Union for Co-operation in Solar Research, by the 

 Royal Society, and by the British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, and which is essential to the scheme of solar study 

 instituted by the International Union. The practical possibilities 

 combined with the scientific value of solar research, make the 

 project a matter of national as well as scientific importance. 



{h) That a copy of the above resolution be forwarded to the 

 Prira^ Minister of Australia, with an urgent appeal that steps be 

 taken to secure the establishment of a Solar Physics Observatory 

 in Australia. 



(c) That a Committee be formed to aid the work of establishing 

 such an Observatory, to consist of : Professors Bragg and Pollock, 

 Messrs. Baracchi, Knibbs (Chairman) and Cooke, and Dr. Duffield 

 (Secretary), with power to add to their number. 



(ct) That in view of the generous attitude of the British Asso- 

 ciation in granting £50 towards the establishment of the Observatory, 

 a similar sum be granted to the Committee by the Association. 



At the Sydney meeting, 1911, the Committee was re-appointed, 

 with the addition of the following : — Professors Lyle, McAulay, and 

 Chapman, Senator Keating, James Oddie, Esq. 



REPORT, 



The immediate object of this Committee is the establishment 

 of a Solar Observatory which may co-operate with other great solar 

 observatories of the world, and, by filling the last remaining gap in 

 the chain of Observatories round the earth, enable the sun to he kept 

 under continuous observation for the whole of the twenty-four hou'rs, 

 in accordance with the scheme of the International Solar Union. 

 The scientific value of this work, and the practical possibilities as 

 regards meteorological applications, have been so universally 

 acknowledged that enumeration of them is here unnecessary. 



