Nuclear Physicist in Town
28 November 2008
One of the world's leading theoretical nuclear physicists, Professor Ian J.
Thompson, started his impressive academic career at One Tree Hill College (when
it was known as Penrose High School).
Thompson, who was born in 1953 and went to Stanhope Road School, was at the
college from 1966-69. He was dux litterarum in his last year.
Thompson started at the University of Auckland at the age of 16 and completed a
BSc in 1972. He completed an MSc in computer science at Massey University in
1974 and a PhD in theoretical nuclear physics at the University of Auckland in
1979. His doctoral thesis was titled, "The Effect of Orthogonality and
Antisymmetrisation in the Strong-Coupling Model of Nuclear Cluster Reactions".
Thompson, who is visiting professor of physics at the University of Surrey,
England, has been in New Zealand in recent weeks to organise an international
conference at Queenstown titled "Interfacing Structure and Reactions at the
Centre of the Atom".
Thompson's career and achievements are outlined in his website, www.IanThompson.org
