https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5895-7575I'm a research scientist at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation in Adelaide, where I specialise in the mathematics of relativistic time concepts, radar signal processing, orbital prediction, and 3-dimensional rotation/orientation theory, with its associated 6-degree-of-freedom maths. I'm also a Member of the Australian Institute of Physics, and the Australasian Society for General Relativity and Gravitation.
I hold a doctorate from the Department of Physics and Mathematical Physics at Adelaide University, with a thesis in mathematical physics completed in 1996. My PhD work was concerned with quantum statistical methods, where I used the tool of influence functionals to study decoherence and the growth of entropy in the early universe, as well as related topics such as thermal radiance of black holes. I worked with and was supervised by Paul Davies (Adelaide), Bei-Lok Hu (Maryland), and Andrew Matacz (Adelaide and Maryland).
Before that I completed a masters degree in physics with first class honours in the Physics Department at the University of Auckland in 1991, specialising in applied accelerator physics. I did the initial exploratory work which eventually lead to the establishment there of a PIXE facility. PIXE (proton-induced X-ray emission) is used for trace element analysis using the idea that proton bombardment will cause materials to emit tell-tale X-rays and gamma rays. For this I was awarded the Seiichi Waki Prize in 1990 for best Auckland experimental physics masters thesis. I was also awarded Senior Prizes in Physics (1988) and Mathematics (1987).
Prior to that I completed a bachelors degree majoring in mathematics at Auckland University in 1988. In the same year I held a vacation scholarship at the Australian National University in Canberra, contributing to all levels of the nuclear department's accelerator mass spectrometry programme, analysing soil samples for their chlorine-36 content.
I have two books published by Springer: Explorations in Mathematical Physics: the Concepts Behind an Elegant Language and Microstates, Entropy and Quanta: An Introduction to Statistical Mechanics, along with some journal publications on quantum cosmology, special relativity, precise timing, and various DSTO-published reports on radar theory, orbital theory, GPS, precise timing, the mathematics of rotation/orientation theory, information fusion, and geolocation/target tracking. Most of these are available on the Internet.
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