Derek Abbott

Derek Abbott
Born	(1960-05-03) 3 May 1960 South Kensington, London
Citizenship	British Australian
Alma mater	Loughborough University University of Adelaide
Known for	Parrondo's paradox Stochastics T-rays
Scientific career
Fields	Physicist and Electronic Engineer
Institutions	University of Adelaide Austek Microsystems GEC Hirst Research Centre
Doctoral advisor	Kamran Eshraghian Bruce R. Davis
Doctoral students	Mark D. McDonnell Adrian P. Flitney
Other notable students	Azhar Iqbal

Derek Abbott (3 May 1960, in South Kensington, London, UK) is a physicist and electronic engineer. He is a Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Adelaide, Australia. He has a wide range of interest for challenging scientific/technological problems and, among others, he is notable for motivating theoretical work in the development of Parrondo's paradox, contributions to the field of stochastic resonance, and experimental contributions to T-ray imaging. Recently, he has became active in the field of renewable energy.

Early years

In the period 1963-1965 Abbott attended the Norland College pre-school, Chislehurst, Kent, UK, as a boarder. Then during 1965-1967 he attended Oakfield School, Dulwich, UK, at the same time as the singer Kim Wilde. In 1968, he attended the Ecole Seminaire de Collonges-sous-Salève (now Ecole Maurice-Tièche), France, and then the, Ecole de Ferney-Voltaire (now Ecole Florian), France. In 1969 he did a stint at Bassett House School, London, UK.

In the 1969-1971 period, he was a boarder at Copthorne Preparatory School, Sussex, UK. He attended Copthorne at the same time as the deputy editor of Private Eye, Francis Wheen.

During 1971-1978 he attended the infamous Holland Park School, London, sometimes called "the socialist Eton." At Holland Park the singer Yazz was one of his classmates. Here, he was taught English Literature by the comedian Mike Walling and music by Andy Mackay who later became the saxophonist of Roxy Music. In the early 1970s he lived next door to Cat Stevens's drummer Gerry Conway in Holland Park, London.

Career

In late 1977, he began work at GEC Hirst Research Centre, Wembley, UK, performing research in the area of CCD and microchip design for imaging systems. Whilst working, he graduated in 1982 with a BSc in Physics from Loughborough University, where his key intellectual influence was Nicholas J. Phillips. In 1986, at the time when the mysterious GEC deaths started, he began work as a microchip designer at Austek Microsystems in Adelaide, Australia. In 1987, he joined the University of Adelaide completing his PhD thesis in Electrical & Electronic Engineering in 1995, entitled GaAs MESFET Photodetectors for Imaging Arrays, under Kamran Eshraghian and Bruce R. Davis.

Further reading

• Who's Who in South Australia, Ed. Suzannah Pearce, Publ: Crown Content Pty Ltd., Melbourne, Australia, 2007, p. 1, ISBN 978-1-74095-142-5