Leonard Abram Basser

Leonard Abram Basser was born in Enmore. His father, Nathan Basser, a native of Poland, was a draper and grocer with a store in Lithgow. His uncle, Sir Adolph Basser (1887–1965) is remembered for providing substantial funds for the construction of Basser College at the University of NSW.

Basser attended Bathurst High School and received a scholarship at the Blackfriars Teachers Training College in Sydney, where he obtained a Dip Ed. He also graduated with a BSc from the University of Sydney. Appointments followed at Burwood Intermediate High School (1923) and Bowral Intermediate High School (1927).

Basser joined the science staff of Sydney Boys High School in 1931 and remained until his retirement at the end of 1959. As both a chemistry teacher and athletics master, he became a legend in his own time. 

In his almost thirty years as athletics Master, there was a long list of great athletes who came under his charge, including such names as Reg Clark, Bob Higham, Tim Wall, Fred Kaad, Brian Allsop and many others.

His reputation as a teacher was burnished further in retrospect, when his chemistry students in later life became professors of science, Fellows of the Royal Society (FRS) and, in one case, a Nobel laureate in Chemistry. 

Nobel laureate, Sir John Cornforth (1933) said of him: 

"I don't remember a single chemical fact that he taught me but I know I wouldn't be the scientist that I am today without him.”

The geophysicist, Professor Herbert Huppert (1959) also recalled:

“[Basser] was interested in and taught us about minerals and ores, particularly so that he could make money from mining company shares.” 

Lord Robert May (1952) expanded on his teaching methods:

“Lenny Basser began his chemistry course by doing something I suspect many teachers would like to do even today — throwing out the textbook (metaphorically of course). He suggested all the people in the honours class were likely to go to university, and therefore his job was not primarily to teach a syllabus but to teach each of us how to ask the right questions and go about fully educating ourselves.

He taught us by not teaching us. Or, more specifically, he taught us not by asking us to memorise knowledge, but by challenging us to learn how to think. …

I loved it so much I gave up the prospect [as a star debater and orator] of what I saw as a much less interesting career in law.

Instead, I pursued life as a scientist, doing work in the spirit suggested by Lenny Basser’s teaching. In his way, he guided me — or allowed me to guide myself — along the first steps of a journey that led to my becoming President of the Royal Society, and to many wonderful people, places and subjects.”

Basser’s record of encouragement in science is exemplified by six FRS old boys. In addition to Cornforth, May and Huppert, there were Graeme Milbourne Clark (1947) who developed the bionic ear, William Levick (1948), and Sir Henry Harris (1941). Basser’s widow said:

“Len always said FRS stood for 'Found the Right Subject'."

The Australian Government now funds an award in his honour for the Professor Harry Messel International Science School - a fee-free residential educational event, based at the University of Sydney, for selected secondary students held for two weeks in July every two years. The Len Basser Award for Scientific Leadership is awarded to a student who demonstrates both strong academic interest in participating in the ISS and collegiality in sharing their understanding of the science being taught with fellow students.