[1] Jones began his career as a teacher at Dandenong High School, where he taught for nine years, before becoming a household name as an Australian quiz champion in the 1960s on Bob Dyer's Pick a Box, a radio show from 1948, televised from 1957.

[citation needed] A member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 1950, Jones was a Federal candidate in 1955, 1958 and 1963, with a strong interest in education and civil liberties.

The year before his transfer to federal politics, Jones had unsuccessfully challenged state leader Clyde Holding.

He was Minister for Science in the Hawke government from 1983 to 1990, in which role he ensured the preservation of the CSIRO, and set up the Australia Prize, Questacon and the Commission for the Future.

Jones took part in an international think tank to advise Mikhail Gorbachev on Perestroika, Moscow (June) 1990.

He was the vice-president of the World Heritage Committee from 1995 to 1996 and a member of the executive board of UNESCO in Paris from 1991 until 1995, succeeding Gough Whitlam in both roles.

[12] He chaired the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority from 2000 to 2004, and 2005 to 2012[12] and served on the boards of several medical research institutes.

Jones was the founding chair of the advisory board to In2science, a peer mentoring program that builds enthusiasm of Victorian secondary school students for science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

[14] In 2009, Jones joined with Malcolm Fraser, Gustav Nossal, Peter Gration, John Sanderson, and Tilman Ruff to argue that Australia should play a role in the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Jones's stated position on voluntary euthanasia in the past has been inconclusive but in the Australian parliament he spoke against specific elements in the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995 enabling laws in the Northern Territory.

[26] On 26 January 1993 Jones was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) "For service to the promotion of science, the arts and film, writing and Australian politics".

[29] On 9 June 2014 Jones was promoted within the Order of Australia to Companion level (AC), "For eminent service to the community as a leading intellectual in Australian public life, through contributions to scientific, heritage, musical, medical, political and public health organisations, and to the Australian Parliament".

[33] Barry Jones Bay in the Australian Antarctic Territory and Yalkaparidon jonesi, an extinct marsupial, were named after him.

[citation needed] It went through four editions and 26 impressions, sold 80,000 copies in Australia and was translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Swedish and Braille.

[37] Due to Sleepers, Wake!, in October 1985 he became the only Australian minister ever invited to address a G7 Summit Meeting, held in Meech Lake, Canada.