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Stuart Ross WENHAM 1957-2017

Stuart Ross Wenham was born at Crown Street Women’s Hospital Sydney on 15 July 1957, the son of Russell George Wenham (1918-2003) and his wife, June Ethel nee Harding. He grew up in Kingsgrove and attended the University of New South Wales graduating in 1981 and being awarded the university medal in electrical engineering. In 1984 he moved to the Sutherland Shire living for many years at Illawong and Menai and before his death at Cronulla.

In a career spanning more than twenty-five years, he became a pioneering researcher and inventor of solar cell technologies that have been licensed to solar cell makers around the world. These have had a major impact on renewable energy generation. Some of the world’s biggest silicon producers have signed agreements with UNSW to use Wenham’s hydrogen passivation technology in production lines.

Stuart Wenham won many awards for his work. In 1999, with his former mentor, Professor Martin Green, he was awarded the Australia prize for Energy, Science and Technology for solar cell technology. In 2008 Wenham was awarded the Clunies Ross Award for ‘contributions to solar cell development and commercialisation.’ In 2009 he received the Cherry Award at the 34th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference in Philadelphia and in 2011 the J J Ebers Award from the International Electron Devices Group of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers). Wenham was awarded the UK Institution of Engineering and Technology’s A F Harvey Engineering prize in 2013 for his breakthrough in hydrogeneration.

At the time of his death, Professor Stuart Wenham was the director of ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Silicon Photovoltaics and Photonics, also the Director of Academic Studies in the School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering at the University of New South Wales. His daughter, Dr. Alison Ciesla, is part of the team which, inspired by him, will carry on his work at UNSW.

Stuart Wenham was a member of the Menai-Illawong Uniting Church and a well-known, A grade tennis player. In September 2017 he was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma and after treatment had hoped to make a full recovery. His condition declined quite suddenly and he died on 23 December 2017. He was survived by his former wife Michelle, his partner Ran Chen and son Paul, his daughter Alison and her husband Mike. He was cremated at Woronora Cemetery.

A memorial service was held on 8 January 2018 at Sir John Clancy Auditorium at UNSW, Kensington. Shi Zhengrong in the early nineties a PhD student of Green and Wenham, returned to China, founded Suntech Power and became the world’s first solar billionaire. Shi, now a Shainghai-based investor and adjunct Professor at UNSW, described Wenham as ‘a great global solar leader who made solar affordable and accessible to everyone’.

Colleen Passfield 2019

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