Bowen Road School
Established 1929

Primary School

Ian went to a little school called Bowen Road in Lutana, a suburb of Hobart.  He had seven teachers in one year. There was no continuity and some of them were extremely authoritarian. Ian had severe asthma from age 5-14 and so missed a lot of school. He was home schooled by his aunt Lois May (later Thompson) at the farm at Forest Hill for a year. He always declared he showed no aptitude in primary school. 

Established 1887
Moved to present site (above) in 1889.

Secondary School

In 1958, he went to the Friends School, a Quaker School co-founded by his great grandfather. Here he was inspired by his teachers and went on to become Dux of the school in 1963, and won prizes in Chemistry, Maths and Geography. He discovered patterns in Maths and spent the rest of his life exploring patterns in all aspects of his life, not only in Science.

Established 1889

University

He excelled as an undergraduate at the University of Tasmania, gaining Distinctions and Higher Distinctions in all his subjects.

He did Honours in Chemistry on polyhalides with Dr G.H. Cheeseman, being awarded a 1st class Honours Degree in 1968.

His PhD studies were  on Intermolecular Potentials with Dr Tom Spurling. This was completed at CSIRO division of Applied Chemistry at Fisherman's Bend, Melbourne. His PhD was awarded in 1972.