John Mainstone

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John Mainstone with the pitch drop experiment (1990)

John Sydney Mainstone ( January 12, 1935 - August 23, 2013 ) was an Australian physicist . He became known in particular through the pitch drop experiment he had supervised for 52 years .

Live and act

John Mainstone received his 1954 bachelor of science degree and in 1958 with the work of radio measurements of meteor velocities at the University of Adelaide for Ph. D. doctorate. Around 1960 he worked at the University of Cambridge 's Cavendish Laboratory . In 1961 he became a Lecturer , 1966 Senior Lecturer , 1971 Reader at the University of Queensland and later head of the Department of Physics there. After his retirement , he was Director of the Center for Astronomy, Solar Radiation & Climate (CASRAC) at the University of Southern Queensland for eight years .

Mainstone began his career as a radio astronomer , studying the ionosphere and the magnetosphere . Later he also worked in the field of oceanography . He supervised the pitch drop experiment , for which he and Thomas Parnell were honored with the Ig Nobel Prize in 2005 . He also received the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2004 .

John Mainstone died on August 23, 2013 after suffering a recent stroke. He left behind his wife, three daughters and three grandchildren.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Trent Dalton: Pitch fever. In: The Australian. April 6, 2013, archived from the original on April 6, 2013 ; Retrieved August 26, 2013 .
  2. ↑ a b Professor John Mainstone, who oversaw Pitch Drop Experiment, dies aged 78 at abc.net.au, accessed August 26, 2013
  3. ^ University of Adelaide: Alumni News, August 2004 ( Memento of August 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Mainstone, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mainstone, John Sydney; Mainstone, John Sidney
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian physicist
DATE OF BIRTH January 12, 1935
DATE OF DEATH 23rd August 2013