Adelaide scientist Professor Tanya Monro.

ADELAIDE scientist Professor Tanya Monro has been named one of the top 10 brightest young minds in Australia.

The professor of photonics at the University of Adelaide said she hoped the award would encourage other young people to follow a career in science. "I didn't realise how creative science could be," Professor Monro said of her decision as a Sydney teenager to set her career sights on science instead of music.

Professor Monro, 32, of Urrbrae, was chosen by an advisory panel to national science magazine COSMOS. The panel included Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Professor of Natural Philosophy and author Paul Davies.

A mother of three, Professor Monro said she was thrilled by the honour. "I'd love to think I could inspire other young people to study science. It is such an exciting and rewarding career," she said.

The magazine's inaugural Bright Sparks awards in the COSMOS August/September issue recognise work of top scientists aged under 45. Photonics allows the generation and control of light using glass optical fibres.