Anthony William (Tony) Thomas (born 15 November 1949) is an Australian physicist, Professor of Physics at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

since 1984 and Elder Professor of Physics since 1990. Thomas was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and educated at

Adelaide Boys High School Adelaide High School is a coeducational state high school situated on the corner of West Terrace and Glover Avenue in the Adelaide Parklands. Following the Advanced School for Girls, it was the second government high school in South Australia ...

where he won the Thomas Price Scholarship (for the top student in the South Australian Leaving Examinations) in 1966. He was awarded the BHP Medal in 1967 as the top student in South Australia in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in the (new) Matriculation Examinations. He completed a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

Flinders University Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator ...

in 1973. From 1973 to 1975 Thomas was Killam Postdoctoral Fellow at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

, then from 1975 to 1976 was Scientific Associate of the

European Organization for Nuclear Research The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

(CERN) in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. With Harold Fearing he was a founding member of the theory group at

TRIUMF TRIUMF is Canada's national particle accelerator centre. It is considered Canada's premier physics laboratory, and consistently regarded as one of the world's leading subatomic physics research centers. Owned and operated by a consortium of u ...

(Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics) in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, where he carried out research from 1976 to 1982. He chaired the Experiment Evaluation Committee there from 1982 to 1987. From 1982 Thomas was a staff member in the Theory Division at

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

, leaving only to take up a chair in Adelaide. In 1983 Thomas accepted an offer of the Chair of Physics at the

; he started there in February 1984. In 1990 he was appointed Elder Professor of Physics at the University of Adelaide, and was elected a

Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science The Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science is made up of about 500 Australian scientists. Scientists judged by their peers to have made an exceptional contribution to knowledge in their field may be elected to Fellowship of the Academy ...

. From 1991 to 1993 he was President of the Australian Institute of Physics. From 2004 to 2009 he served as Chief Scientist and associate director for Theoretical and Computational Physics at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. In 2014, he was named as the South Australian Scientist of the Year for his work on the structure of subatomic matter. Thomas was made a Companion of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in the 2020

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port Ja ...

Honours for "eminent service to scientific education and research, particularly in the field of nuclear and particle physics, through academic leadership roles."

Awards and honors

*2009: Awarded an

Australian Laureate Fellowship The Australian Laureate Fellowship is an Australian professorial research fellowship awarded by the Australian Research Council. Up to 17 fellows are chosen each year for five-year awards. Kathleen Fitzpatrick and Georgina Sweet fellowships In 201 ...

. *1987: Elected

Fellow of the American Physical Society The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics. The following lists are divided chronologically by the year of designation. * List of American Physic ...

''"for elucidating fundamental aspects of pion-nucleus interactions. developing the Cloudy Bag Model, and discovering the importance of nuclear binding effects in understanding the EMC effect"''

References

External links

Scientific publications of Anthony William Thomas
on

INSPIRE-HEP INSPIRE-HEP is an open access digital library for the field of high energy physics (HEP). It is the successor of the Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System (SPIRES) database, the main literature database for high energy physics since the 1970 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Anthony William 1949 births Living people Australian physicists Flinders University alumni University of Adelaide faculty University of British Columbia faculty Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science People associated with CERN Companions of the Order of Australia Fellows of the American Physical Society Presidents of the Australian Institute of Physics People educated at Adelaide High School