Research, and on a number of committees concerned with seismology and geophysics. In Australian geophysics too he played a significant role, serving for five years as chairman of the Australian National Committee for the International Geophysical Year and also for five years as chairman of the Australian National Committee for Antarctic Research. Bullen's energy was, as Jeffreys remarked, phenomenal. This was true not only of his vocation, science, but also of his avocations. He was indefatigable as a tourist in his earlier days and later as a coin collector. After long days at scientific meetings, or on committees, he would spend many hours seeking out coin shops or other coin collectors. Honours Bullen was awarded many medals and honours by societies in Australia and abroad, being elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1949, a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences in 1961, and Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 1968. He was a foundation fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (1954), a member of the Council of the Academy 1955–57, and Matthew Flinders Lecturer and Medallist in 1969. He was also Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected 1960), Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (elected 1933), Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society of America (1963) and the Geological Society of London (1967), and Fellow of the Royal Societies of New Zealand (1963) and of NSW (1974). Bullen received the Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal of the Australian National Research Council (1949) He received the Bicentennial medal of Columbia University, New York, (1955), the Research medal of the Royal Society of Victoria (1966) and the Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture awarded by Australian Academy of Science in 1969. He was awarded the William Bowie Medal of the American Geophysical Union in 1961, the Arthur L. Day Medal of the Geological Society of America in 1963, and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1974. See also List of geophysicists References Bibliography Australian Academy of Science biography 1906 births 1976 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge University of Sydney faculty New Zealand seismologists Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science New Zealand Fellows of the Royal Society Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Fellows of the Geological Society of America 20th-century Australian mathematicians