Editing Australian Academy of Science (section)

==The Shine Dome==
[[File:Shine dome.jpg|thumb|275px|The Shine Dome]]

The Shine Dome (previously known as Becker House) is a well-known Canberra landmark, notable for its unusual structure, and colloquially referred to as "The Martian Embassy", an allusion to its shape and the fact that as the capital of Australia, Canberra is the home of foreign embassies.<ref>{{cite news |title=Engineering feat stands test of time. |url=http://business.highbeam.com/437587/article-1G1-208872968/engineering-feat-stands-test-time |access-date=20 March 2013 |newspaper=The Canberra Times |date=2 October 2009 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411024154/http://business.highbeam.com/437587/article-1G1-208872968/engineering-feat-stands-test-time |archive-date=11 April 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It was designed by architect Sir [[Roy Grounds]], of Grounds, Romberg and Boyd. When completed in 1959 its 45.75-metre-diameter dome was the largest in Australia.

On 1 December 1956, the academy's building design committee met in Adelaide to look over plans submitted by six architects. The plan accepted involved a 710-tonne reinforced concrete dome, which had to be supported by 16 thin supports. The concrete is approximately 60&nbsp;cm thick at the base supports, and 10&nbsp;cm at the top. The dome supports itself, with no internal wall holding it up. It cost £200,000 to build. The [[foundation stone]], laid on 2 May 1958 by [[Prime Minister of Australia]], [[Robert Menzies]], was originally part of the pier of the [[Great Melbourne Telescope]] constructed in 1869 under the supervision of the Royal Society and transferred to [[Mount Stromlo Observatory]] in the 1940s.

The building was named Becker House, for benefactor and Fellow of the Academy Sir [[Jack Ellerton Becker]], in 1962. In 2000, it was renamed in honour of Fellow [[John Shine]], who donated one million dollars to renovate the dome.

The interior contains three floors: on the ground level, the main auditorium, the [[Ian Wark]] Theatre, seats 156 people, the [[John Conrad Jaeger|Jaeger]] Room for functions and meetings, the Becker Council Meeting Room and offices; the upper level includes a gallery to the theatre and the [[Basser Library|Adolf Basser Library]]; and the basement houses storage for historical records of science in Australia.

In 2016, the dome appeared in the television documentary series about Australian modernist architecture ''[[Streets of Your Town (TV series)|Streets of Your Town]]'' presented by [[Tim Ross]].

On 20 January 2020 the Dome was seriously damaged by a hailstorm with smashed skylights and denting of the copper roof surface.<ref name="abc-2020-hail-research-lost">{{cite news |last1=Burnside |first1=Niki   |title=Canberra hailstorm damages valuable research as record number of emergency calls lodged |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-21/years-of-scientific-research-lost-in-canberra-hailstorm/11884062 |access-date=8 February 2020 |work=ABC News|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=21 January 2020 |language=en-AU}}</ref>