Igor Bray
Professor Bray is both an excellent science communicator and a big-picture thinker, a combination of skills that has made him a great advocate and prominent speaker for science and science policy at local, national and international levels. His clear way of expressing his views, even about very specialised and complex topics, has enabled him to engage the broader community - including young students - in important discussions about the role of science and science education in Australia’s future.
He works in the theoretical physics area known as atomic collision theory. Atomic collisions go on all around us – and even inside us – all the time: all chemical reactions are examples of atomic collisions and all electro-magnetic radiation (such as visible light, X-rays, microwaves etc) is either due to, or influenced by, such collisions. Professor Bray’s research goals range from solving pure, fundamental few-body quantum physics problems through to highly focused, but wide-ranging, applications for science and industry.
Professor Bray’s major research achievement in this field was the development of the Convergent Close-Coupling (CCC) theory. The CCC theory was developed during the early 1990s in response to unresolved problems between existing theory and experiment for the most fundamental collision systems involving electrons, photons, atomic hydrogen and helium. Not only did the CCC theory resolve these problems, but it did so in a unifying single approach. The accuracy of Professor Bray’s unifying theory was so great that on several occasions it showed existing experiments to be in error. Professor Bray’s achievements formed the basis of a story on the ABC’s science program, Quantum, in 1999 (see http://www.abc.net.au/quantum/scripts99/9902/rundown.htm##electron).
To date astrophysicists, laser physicists, fusion researchers and the lighting industry have extensively used the CCC-calculated data. A major application will be in the planned US$10 billion fusion facility ITER which aims to demonstrate how the fusion of light atoms can be used to generate electrical power and help meet mankind’s future energy needs in an environmentally friendly manner. This extraordinary scientific investment by mankind is second in magnitude only to the Space Station.
He is always involved in important projects, both for the pursuit of knowledge: the Institute of Theoretical Physics at Curtin, the ARC Centre of Excellence for Antimatter-Matter Studies, the Australian Institute of Physics in WA are only three of many), as well as the livelihood of education itself: the Curriculum Council’s Physics Panel, voluntary undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, Science promotion in schools, and arguing tirelessly for a major increase in salaries and improvement in the working conditions for all teachers.
He has published more than 250 papers with more than 100 different co-authors in leading physics journals (with his average of around 15 citations per paper well exceeding the usual average of one or two citations per paper), presents regularly at national and international conferences and has been the recipient of several major awards which recognise the originality and significance of his research.
Professor Bray’s many collaborations bring a steady flow of visitors from all around the world to Western Australia, and maintain a committed, cooperative spirit between the physicists at Curtin, Murdoch University and The University of Western Australia to help ensure the next generation of the State’s physicists have access to the best of what the Western Australian universitieshave to offer.
Professor Bray’s many collaborations bring a steady flow of visitors from all around the world to Western Australia, and maintain a committed, cooperative spirit between the physicists at Curtin, Murdoch University and The University of Western Australia to help ensure the next generation of the State’s physicists have access to the best of what the Western Australian universities have to offer.
His passion for promoting his field of expertise, and sharing his successes with others, has directly contributed to helping raise Australia’s profile as a world leader in the field of theoretical physics – a profile he is committed to further strengthening over time. In the professor’s own words, “Success of the individual is the success of all!”
