AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITY REVERSES DECISION TO FIRE 102 YEAR OLD SCIENTIST- PHOTOS

Australia's oldest scientists will continue to work in 2017 after a West Australian university reversed its decision to fire him.
Doctor David Goodall, a 102 year old honorary research associate in ecology at Western Australia's (WA) Edith Cowan University (ECU), will continue his career of more than 70 years after the university was able to find space for him.


The university told Goodall in August that he would have to work from home in 2017 because he posed a significant health and safety risk, saying that Goodall's 90-minute each-way journey on two buses and a train to the university's Joondalup campus was of particular concern due to his age.
However, the university said that it has been able to find office space for Goodall at its Mt Lawley campus, an arrangement ECU vice-chancellor Steve Chapman said involved compromise on both sides.

"It is better in many ways," Chapman told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday.
"First of all it's closer to his residence and it's easier for him to commute.
"Secondly, there's an office very close that's manned all the time so we will be able to keep an eye on him that he's okay.
"Thirdly, he's agreed to inform us when he comes in so that if he didn't arrive we could check what had happened.
"All round I think it's a better solution for him and a better solution for the university."

Goodall, whose plight attracted international attention and prompted a debate about the value of older people in the workplace, said while he was disappointed to be leaving his original office, he was grateful the university had found room for him.
"Given that I had to move, this is satisfactory," Goodall told the ABC.
"I hope to continue with some useful work in my field in so far as my eyesight permits. But I still think the emphasis on safety was unnecessary."

"I think people were rather sympathetic to me as a centenarian who wanted to continue life in society.
"I prefer to be on campus because there are other people around and people who potentially are friends."