Colin Pask

Emeritus Professor Colin Pask serves in the School of Science at UNSW Canberra, University of New South Wales. Born in Great Gonerby, Lincolnshire, England, he studied physics and mathematics at Queen Mary College, University of London, before moving to Australia in 1964 to work with Professor John M. Blatt. He obtained his PhD from the University of New South Wales, followed by a brief stint at Duke University. Returning to UNSW, he became a lecturer in the Department of Applied Mathematics, teaching numerical analysis, classical dynamics, and Fortran programming. In 1971, Pask was awarded a Queen Elizabeth Fellowship in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the Australian National University's Research School of Physical Sciences. He advanced to Fellow and then Senior Fellow in the Institute of Advanced Studies by 1978. During this period, he conducted research on theoretical nuclear physics, focusing on the effects, derivation, and mathematical forms of three-body potentials. He also spent time on leave at the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen, Germany, investigating insect vision.

In 1986, Professor Pask was appointed Head of the Department of Mathematics, which later became the School of Mathematics and Statistics, at University College UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy. He held this position for 12 years, then served as Presiding Member of the University College Academic Board from 2000 and as Deputy Rector. His research specializations include waveguide theory and optical fiber design, methods for characterizing optical fibers, geometric optics and leaky rays, coherence theory, coherence effects in fiber optics, diffraction theory, image formation, inverse source problems, chaos in ray theory, classical dynamics, super-resolution imaging, insect photoreceptors, tapering dielectric waveguides, inverse problems in biological lens properties, human vision photoreceptors, and nonlinear optics encompassing waveguide mode mixing, frequency mixing, spectral theory of pulses, and momentum. Pask has authored three books: Math for the Frightened: Facing Scary Symbols and Everything Else That Freaks You Out About Mathematics (2011), Magnificent Principia: Exploring Isaac Newton's Masterpiece (2013), and Great Calculations (2015). His publication record features 135 journal articles, including 'The Stiles-Crawford effect: A theoretical revisit' (2013), 'Momentum in nonlinear optics' (2000), and 'Optical properties of retinal photoreceptors and the Campbell effect' (1998), and 4 conference papers.