Key 84: Faculty of Science [ii] 1945-1979 / RAAF Academy 1961-1985

The status of the science faculty rose rapidly in the post-war years, though growth in size was soon steadied by quotas. The ever-broadening scope of the individual disciplines was met with a proliferation of new chairs. Chemistry was partitioned into Organic (1951), Inorganic (1961) and Physical Chemistry; Physics gained two new chairs in Theoretical and Experimental Physics; Zoology gave rise to a new chair of Genetics (1964); Botany acquired an additional professor in 1967.

Mathematics, with three professors - Applied (1929), Pure (1951) and Statistics (1955) - moved from Arts to the Science Faculty in 1965. The Faculty was further expanded with the affiliation of the RAAF Academy at Point Cook from 1961 to 1985 staffed by the Science Faculty under a professor of Physics (V.D. Hopper) and a professor of Mathematics (B. Rennie).

In 1974 Physics moved into a new building on the north east corner of the campus and Geology and Meteorology, combined as the School of Earth Sciences, moved into a new building named for foundation Professor F. McCoy across Swanston Street on the corner of Elgin Street in 1975-77.