astronomy

Peter Hannaford (professor)

Peter Hannaford (professor) is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Peter Hannaford (professor) rather than just read about it. In short: Peter Hannaford (born 15 July 1939) is an Australian academic and university professor. He is the Director of the Centre for Atom Optics and Ultrafast Spectroscopy at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, and winner of the Walter Boas Medal in 1985.

Key takeaways

Peter Hannaford (professor) belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Peter Hannaford (professor) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Peter Hannaford (professor) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Peter Hannaford (born 15 July 1939) is an Australian academic and university professor. He is the Director of the Centre for Atom Optics and Ultrafast Spectroscopy at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, and winner of the Walter Boas Medal in 1985.

Education and career Hannaford studied at the University of Melbourne, where he earned his Bachelor of Science (BSc) in 1961, his Master of Science (MSc) in 1963, and his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in 1968. In 1964, Hannaford was named physics tutor at Ormond College at the University of Melbourne. In 1967, he was named research scientist at the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization), Division of Chemical Physics. From 1971–83, he was a senior research scientist and later principal research scientist (1974) at the CSIRO Division of Chemical Physics. From 1972–73, he was a guest scientist at the University of Reading (JJ Thomson Physical Laboratory) in the UK. From 1981–82, he was a Science Research Council senior research fellow at the University of Reading. In 1983, he was a senior principal research scientist at CSIRO, Division of Chemical Physics. In 1984, he was a William Evans Visiting Fellow at the University of Otago in New Zealand. In 1985, he was a Member of the Australian Academy of Science National Committee for Spectroscopy. In 1989, he was a Royal Society Guest Research Fellow and Visiting Fellow at Christ Church College, University of Oxford, UK. From 1989–2001, he was the chief research scientist at the CSIRO Division of Materials Science and Technology in Clayton, Victoria. From 1990–2000, he was a Professorial Associate at the University of Melbourne. In 1991, he was an Australian Academy of Science-Royal Society Exchange Fellow in Oxford, England. In 1992, he was a guest scientist at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany. From 1993–2003, he was the chair of the National Committee for Spectroscopy of the Australian Academy of Science. In 1997, he was a professorial fellow at Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn, Victoria. In 1999, he was director of the Centre for Atom Optics and Ultrafast Spectroscopy (CAOUS) at Swinburne University. From 1999–2003, he was a guest scientist at the European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS) at the Università degli Studi di Firenze (Italy). In 2000, he was a guest professor at the University of Innsbruck (Austria). In 2002, he was a member of Commission C15 (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics) for the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. In 2003, he was named a university distinguished professor at Swinburne University of Technology. Hannaford is the institutional director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Quantum-Atom Optics at Swinburne University of Technology. While at CSIRO in the 1970s to the 1990s, he pioneered new techniques in high-resolution and time-resolved laser spectroscopy, which have been important for characterization of the spectroscopic properties of a wide range of atoms. He has published over 150 papers in scientific journals and books. His current projects include: BEC on a chip, magnetic lattices, quantum coherence, molecular BEC, high harmonic generation and ultrafast spectroscopy.

Awards 1985 — Walter Boas Medal of the Australian Institute of Physics 1991 — Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) 2023 — Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)

Selected publications From magnetic mirrors to atom chipsAndrei Sidorov and Peter Hannaford (Eds. J. Reichel and V. Vuletic) Wiley-VCH Chapter 1, pp. 3–31 (2011) Kuhnle, E. D.; Hoinka, S.; Dyke, P.; Hu, H.; Hannaford, P.; Vale, C. J. (26 April 2011). "Temperature Dependence of the Universal Contact Parameter in a Unitary Fermi Gas". Physical Review Letters. 106 (17) 170402. American Physical Society (APS). arXiv:1012.2626. Bibcode:2011PhRvL.106q0402K. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.106.170402. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 21635019. S2CID 38899011. Kuhnle, E. D.; Hu, H.; Liu, X.-J.; Dyke, P.; Mark, M.; Drummond, P. D.; Hannaford, P.; Vale, C. J. (9 August 2010). "Universal Behavior of Pair Correlations in a Strongly Interacting Fermi Gas". Physical Review Letters. 105 (7) 070402. American Physical Society (APS). arXiv:1001.3200. Bibcode:2010PhRvL.105g0402K. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.105.070402. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 20868022. S2CID 45128610.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter Hannaford (professor)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peter Hannaford (professor) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Peter Hannaford (professor) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Peter Hannaford (professor) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Peter Hannaford (professor)

In research: Peter Hannaford (professor) appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Peter Hannaford (professor) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Peter Hannaford (professor) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1939 births, 21st-century Australian physicists, Academic staff of Swinburne University of Technology, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peter Hannaford (professor) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Peter Hannaford (professor)” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Peter Hannaford (professor) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Peter Hannaford (professor) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Peter Hannaford (professor) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Peter Hannaford (professor) in simple terms?

Why does Peter Hannaford (professor) matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Peter Hannaford (professor)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Peter Hannaford (professor).