Anthony Thomas

Professor Anthony Thomas

Aust Laureate Fellow & Elder Prof of Physics

School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


In 2020 Prof. Thomas was made a Companion of the Order of Australia "for his eminent service to scientific education and research, particularly in the field of nuclear and particle physics, through academic leadership roles".

He was awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Achievement in 2019. In 2014 he was recognized as South Australian Scientist of the Year. Prof. Thomas's work has received more than 25,000 citations in the HEP-Spires data-base, with an h-index of 84. Prof. Thomas was elected a Fellow of the (UK) Institute of Physics in 1996. In 1997 the University of Adelaide recognized his achievements through the award of the Stephen Cole the Elder Prize for Scholarship. In the same year the Academy of Science awarded him the Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal. This was followed by the Harrie Massey Medal (of the UK Institute of Physics) in 2000. From 2014-2018 he held a Special Visiting Researcher Fellowship of CNPq Brazil.
In addition to these and other awards and prizes, Prof. Thomas was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2003.

Prof. Thomas was Associate Director (and Director of the Adelaide node) of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Particle Physics at the Tera-scale from 2011-2018. This Centre, which was formed by a national consortium involving Adelaide, Melbourne, Monash and Sydney Universities, served to coordinate Australian research at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Following the close of that Centre he was a Chief Investigator on a successful bid for a new Centre of Excellence in Dark Matter Particle Physics, which began work in 2020.

In 2004, Prof. Thomas was invited to take up the position of Chief Scientist and Associate Director for Theoretical and Computational Physics at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, one of the US Department of Energy's two major fundamental nuclear physics laboratories. As well as having line management responsibility for over 300 scientists and engineers he held responsibility for the quality of entire scientific program of the laboratory, with its more than 1200 international scientific users.

Under his leadership the US$300M upgrade of the laboratory, to double its energy and add a new experimental hall was accorded the top priority in the 2007 Long Range Plan for US Nuclear Science.

In 2009 Prof. Thomas returned to the University of Adelaide as an ARC Australian Laureate Fellow, one of only two appointed from outside Australia in that year. He is now Director of the University Research Centre for Complex Systems and the Structure of Matter, which incorporates the CSSM but aims for a more diverse research program building upon the expertise in mathematical modelling and high performance computing that has developed around CSSM.

Prof. Thomas has served on numerous national and international committees. He is currently Vice-Cair of the Asaian Nuclear Physics association and the Association of Asian Pacific Countries Division of Nuclear Physics. He was Secretary of Commission C12 (Nuclear Physics) of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) from 1996 to 2002; he served as Chair of the National Committee for Physics (AAS) and the IUCF Visiting Committee and he also served on the Beirat at the Nuclear Physics Institute of FZ-Jülich. He served as the Chair of the Working Group on International Cooperation in Nuclear Physics (WG.9) of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics from its inauguration in 2005 until 2011 and served as past-Chair until late 2020. In that role he also served on the OECD Global Science Forum Working Group on Nuclear Physics (2006-2008), which prepared a world-wide roadmap for research facilities in fundamental nuclear science. Prof. Thomas is currently Vice-Chair of the Asian Nuclear Physics Association. He also serves as a member of the Program Advisory Committee at J-PARC in Japan.

After a PhD at Flinders University, experience as a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia and a staff member at TRIUMF in Canada and CERN in Geneva, Prof. Thomas arrived in Adelaide in February 1984. He served as Deputy Chairman of the Physics Department and for four years as the first Head of the new Department of Physics and Mathematical Physics. He also served as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Science, and was elected to the University Council from 1991 to 1997.

In 1989 he was appointed Elder Professor of Physics - the sixth person to hold the chair first held in 1886 by Sir William Bragg. He was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society in 1987 and the Australian Academy of Science (AAS) in 1990. In 1987 he won the Walter Boas Medal (of the Australian Institute of Physics, the AIP), and in 1991 the Inaugural Silver Jubilee Commemoration Medal of Flinders University.

From 1991 to 1993 he served as President of the Australian Institute of Physics. This was an exciting period during which the first Strategic Plan for Physics in Australia was created and his involvement in the AIP continued as chair of the Strategic Plan Implementation Committee.

From 1991 to 1996 he held an Australian Research Council Senior Research Fellowship and from 1996 to 1999 an ARC Special Investigator Award. In 1992 he was awarded a Research prize by the Alexander von Humboldt Research Foundation.

Prof. Thomas served on the Council of the Australian Academy of Science (AAS) from 1992 to 1995, including a term as Vice-President from 1994 to 1995.

Following the recommendation of the Strategic Plan for Physics it was proposed to hold a competition to host the proposed National Institute for Theoretical Physics. The National Committee for Physics (of the AAS) awarded the honour to Adelaide University, in partnership with the ANU, UNSW and Flinders University in 1995, with Prof. Thomas as Director. Since that time the NITP has hosted well over 50 workshops and conferences at the partner institutions and elsewhere.

Under the framework of the NITP, a bid was prepared for a more specialized research centre working in nuclear and particle theory. This led to the award of the Australian Research Council Special Research Centre for the Subatomic Structure of Matter (CSSM for short) in 1997.

The CSSM has been widely recognized as one of the world's major centres for research in theoretical subatomic physics and details of its staff, its workshops, visitor program, publications and other activities may be found on the Centre's web pages http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/cssm/index.html

Google Scholar link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&user=i7TNK8IAAAAJ

Research in my group covers a broad range of topics in subatomic physics as well as econophysics. This includes the search for physics beyond the Standard Model, the nature of Dark Matter, hadron structure within QCD and the use of electroweak probes to test my ideas. In hadronic physics we are concerned with deep inelastic scattering, including spin dependence and transversity phenomena. Effective field theory is a powerful tool used within my group to link investigations within lattice QCD with experimental data, from form factors to specroscopy.

In nuclear theory our work focusses on the role of the underlying quark and gluon structure of the nucleon and its modification in-medium as the origin of many phenomena including nuclear binding and saturation. We also work closely with major laboratories around the world to reveal experimental signatures of these fundamental ideas.

In econophysics our studies range from models of the stock market to detailed examination of the dynamics of the order book as well as topics in actuarial studies. 

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2009 - 2014 ARC Australian Laureate Fellow Adelaide University
    2004 - 2009 Chief Scientist and Associate Director for Theoretical and Computational Physics Jefferson Lab
    1989 - ongoing Elder Professor of Physics Adelaide University
    1984 - ongoing Professor of Physics Adealide University
    1982 - 1984 Staff Member Theory Division CERN
    1976 - 1983 Staff Member Theory Group TRIUMF
  • Language Competencies

    Language Competency
    French Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    1986 Adelaide University Australia DSc
    1971 - 1973 Flinders University Australia PhD
  • Certifications

    Date Title Institution name Country
    2006 Chartered Scientist The Science Council United Kingdom
  • Research Interests

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Co-Supervisor Understanding the Foundations of Neutron Stars Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Ragib Farhat Hasan
    2024 Co-Supervisor Investigating infrared behaviour of quantum chromodynamics using Schwinger-Dyson equations. Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Connor Joshua Carrington
    2023 Principal Supervisor Structure of Exotic Mesons Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Mitchell Louis Richardson
    2023 Principal Supervisor Generalised Parton Distributions Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Matthew Rumley
    2023 Co-Supervisor Simulating Effects of Proton Therapy at Varying Scales: Quantifying a Variable RBE Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Tazwar Zaheen
    2022 Principal Supervisor Quark Meson Coupling and Neutron Stars Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Jesper Leong
    2022 Principal Supervisor Many-Body forces in Nuclear Matter Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Nathanael Luke Botten
    2022 Principal Supervisor Investigations of Hadron Structure Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Shiryo Owa
    2021 Principal Supervisor Studies in QCD Phenomenology Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Nicholas Timothy Hunt-Smith
    2020 Principal Supervisor Baryonic Resonances in Hamiltonian Effective Field Theory and Lattice QCD Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Liam Christopher Hockley
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2020 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Constraint on Dark Matter Using Neutron Stars Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Wasif Husain
    2019 - 2023 Co-Supervisor The Structure of Baryon Resonances Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Curtis David Abell
    2019 - 2021 Co-Supervisor A New Model for Dose-Response Relations in Hadron Therapy: A Statistical Analysis of Hadron Therapy Data Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Ms Melissa Anne McIntyre
    2018 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Constraining the Equation of State of Nuclear Matter with Neutron Stars Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Anthony Michael Kalaitzis
    2018 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Direct CP Violation in B Meson Decays Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Liam Christopher Hockley
    2017 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Dense Nuclear Matter and Astrophysical Probes of Nuclear Physics Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Theo Motta
    2017 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Application of Expectation Maximisation Algorithm on Mixed Distributions Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Christopher Luke Diassinas
    2017 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Equation of State of Rotating Neutron Stars Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Wasif Husain
    2016 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Reliable Statistical Methods and their Applications for Testing Incomplete Multidisciplinary Data Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Jake Callum Guscott
    2016 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Electromagnetic Form Factors of Hadrons in the Space-Like Region Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Robert James Perry
    2016 - 2018 Principal Supervisor Structure Functions in Medium and the Polarized EMC Effect Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Stephen Tronchin
    2016 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Nuclear Structure Studies in the Quark-Meson Coupling Model Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Kay Marie Lucenes Martinez
    2012 - 2015 Principal Supervisor Strangeness and Charge Symmetry Violation in Nucleon Structure Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Phiala Elisabeth Shanahan
    2011 - 2013 Principal Supervisor Resonance in a Finite Volume in Quantum Chromodynamics Master of Science Master Full Time Mr Anthony Chi-Pin Hsu
    2011 - 2016 Principal Supervisor Nonperturbative Aspects of Kaon Structure Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Parada Tobel Paraduan Hutauruk
    2011 - 2016 Principal Supervisor Supersymmetric Dark Matter in the NMSSM and E6SSM Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Sophie Underwood
    2011 - 2015 Principal Supervisor Hadrons and Quarks in Dense Matter: From Nuclear Matter to Neutron Stars Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Daniel Leslie Whittenbury
    2011 - 2016 Principal Supervisor PROPERTIES OF HADRONS FROM A NON-PERTURBATIVE APPROACH Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Manuel Eduardo Carrillo Serrano
    2011 - 2014 Principal Supervisor Hadron Structure in Electroweak Precision Measurements Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Nathan Luke Hall
    2010 - 2013 Principal Supervisor Hadron Structure in Deep Inelastic Scattering Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Andrew Casey
    2010 - 2011 Principal Supervisor Modelling the Nucleon Axial Form Factor in a Finite Volume Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Nathan Luke Hall
    2009 - 2016 Co-Supervisor A Theoretical Investigation of Roles of Backbone Amide Resonance in Protein Structure Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr John Neville Sharley
    2004 - 2004 Principal Supervisor Investigations in Non-perturbative QCD Master of Science Master Full Time Mr Jonathan Ashley
    2003 - 2007 Principal Supervisor Nucleon Structure Functions, their Medium Modification and the Polarized EMC effect Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Ian Cloet
    2003 - 2006 Principal Supervisor Complexity and Self-organization: Data Analysis and Models Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Marco Bartolozzi
    2001 - 2006 Principal Supervisor A Unified Approach to Nuclear Matter and Quark Matter Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Sarah Irene Lawley
    2001 - 2005 Principal Supervisor Finite-Range Regularisation of Chiral Effective Field Theory Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time APrf Ross Young
    1999 - 2003 Principal Supervisor Direct CP Violation in B Decays Including p - w Mixing And Covariant Light-Font Dynamics Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Olivier Leitner
    1998 - 2002 Principal Supervisor Nonpertubative Approaches to Quantum Chromodynamics Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr William Detmold
    1998 - 2002 Principal Supervisor Chiral Symmetry and the Extraction of Hadron Properties from Lattice QCD Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Stewart Wright
    1998 - 2002 Principal Supervisor Structure functions in the three nucleon system Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Francois Bissey
    1996 - 2003 Principal Supervisor On a Dynamical Origin for Fermion Generations Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr James Bashford
  • Committee Memberships

    Date Role Committee Institution Country
    2018 - 2020 Board Member J-PARC Program Advisory Committee J-PARC Japan Japan
    2011 - ongoing Vice-Chair Asian Nuclear Physics Association - -
    2005 - ongoing Member IUPAP Working Group on International Cooperation in Nuclear Physics International Union of Pure and Appied Physics -
  • Editorial Boards

    Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country
    2019 - ongoing Board Member Oxford Encyclopedia of Physics American Institute of Physics United States
    2011 - ongoing Board Member Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics Elsevier Netherlands
    2009 - ongoing Board Member Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics UK Institute of Physics United Kingdom
  • Position: Aust Laureate Fellow & Elder Prof of Physics
  • Phone: 83133547
  • Email: anthony.thomas@adelaide.edu.au
  • Fax: 83134380
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Physics, floor First Floor
  • Room: 126
  • Org Unit: Physics

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