Dr. Anthony Thomas
Chief Scientist and Theory Group Leader
Thomas came to Jefferson Lab from a position as the Elder Professor of Physics (the Chair first held by William Henry Bragg) in the Department of Physics and Mathematical Physics at the University of Adelaide (Australia). He is also the Director of the Special Research Centre for the Subatomic Structure of Matter and the National Institute for Theoretical Physics.
After completing a PhD in 1973 at Flinders University, Thomas' career took him to the University of British Columbia, TRIUMF and CERN before he returned to Australia in 1984.
He has held positions at the University of Adelaide ranging from the Chair of Physics to Head of a new Department of Physics and Mathematical Physics to the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Science and was elected to the University Council from 1991 to 1997.
Thomas is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science where he has served on Council and as Vice President. He was President of the Australian Institute of Physics from 1991 to 1993. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1987 and a Fellow of the (UK) Institute of Physics in 1996. Amongst numerous prizes and awards he has received are the Harrie Massey Medal (IoP) in 2000, the Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal (AAS) in 1997, a Research Prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Research Foundation in 1992 and the Walter Boas Medal (AIP) in 1987.
Thomas has served on numerous national and international committees. He was Secretary of Commission C12 (Nuclear Physics) of IUPAP from 1996 to 2002 and has just completed a term as Chair of the National Committee for Physics (AAS). At TRIUMF he served as Chair of the Experiment Evaluation Committee for five years. More recently Thomas chaired the IUCF Visiting Committee for two years and he currently serves on the Beirat at the Nuclear Physics Institute of FZ-Juelich.