Colin Pask

Colin Pask (born 1943)[1] is a British mathematical physicist and science writer.

Life

He was born in Great Gonerby, on the outskirts of Grantham in Lincolnshire, where his father was a dairy farmer.[2] He was educated at King's School, Grantham from age 11, and went to Queen Mary College, London for a degree course in theoretical physics and mathematics.[3] He graduated B.Sc. there in 1964.[4]

Career

Pask studied for a Ph.D. in nuclear physics under John M. Blatt at the University of New South Wales from 1964, graduating in 1967 with a dissertation entitled Studies in the Nuclear Three-Body Problem.[3][5] He spent a period at Duke University, then returned to the University of New South Wales as lecturer in the Department of Applied Mathematics.[4]

In 1971 Pask moved to the Australian National University, with an Australian Research Council fellowship to work in the Department of Applied Mathematics there. He was made a Fellow in 1973, and Senior Fellow in 1978.[4] He moved in 1986 to become head of University College at UNSW Canberra at ADFA, retiring from that post after 12 years.[3]

Pask is now Emeritus Professor of Mathematical Sciences and History at University of New South Wales.[6]

Research interests

As a post-doctoral researcher, Pask turned to optical physics and biological vision, among other topics.[4] In 1973 he published with Allan Snyder an optical waveguide explanation of the Stiles–Crawford effect. Pask and McIntyre reviewed the theory and experimental results in the area, in a survey from 2013.[7] Work of Pask and Kevin Barrell from 1980 contributed to the theory of the apposition eye.[8]

During the 1970s, Pask also published on attenuation effects in optical fibres. He collaborated in this area with Adrian Ankiewicz.[9]

Works

Pask has written some works of popularisation:

  • Math for the Frightened: Facing Scary Symbols and Everything Else That Freaks You Out About Mathematics (2011)[10]
  • Magnificent Principia: Exploring Isaac Newton's Masterpiece (2013)[11]
  • Great Calculations: A Surprising Look Behind 50 Scientific Inquiries (2015)[12]

References
  1. "British National Bibliography, Pask, Colin, 1943-, The British Library". bnb.data.bl.uk.
  2. "Emeritus Professor Colin Pask". research.unsw.edu.au. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  3. "Colin Pask". unsw.adfa.edu.au.
  4. Journal of the Optical Society of America: Optics and image science. A. The Society. 1986. p. 1106.
  5. "Colin Pask - The Mathematics Genealogy Project". genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu.
  6. "Colin Pask". Penguin Random House Canada. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  7. McIntyre, P.; Pask, C. (1 February 2013). "The Stiles–Crawford effect: a theoretical revisit". Journal of Modern Optics. 60 (4): 266–283. Bibcode:2013JMOp...60..266M. doi:10.1080/09500340.2013.770575. ISSN 0950-0340. S2CID 121098614.
  8. Stavenga, Doekele G.; Hardie, Roger C. (6 December 2012). Facets of Vision. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 40. ISBN 978-3-642-74082-4.
  9. Adams, M. J. (1981). An Introduction to Optical Waveguides. Wiley. p. 330. ISBN 978-0-471-27969-3.
  10. Pask, Colin (2011). Math for the Frightened: Facing Scary Symbols and Everything Else that Freaks You Out about Mathematics. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-61614-421-0.
  11. Pask, Colin (3 September 2013). Magnificent Principia: Exploring Isaac Newton's Masterpiece. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-61614-746-4.
  12. Pask, Colin (7 July 2015). Great Calculations: A Surprising Look Behind 50 Scientific Inquiries. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-63388-029-0.
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