Biography
Emeritus Professor Stephen Buckman AM
Professor Stephen Buckman is an internationally recognised
atomic physics researcher and academic. He retired from the
position of Director of the Research School of Physics and
Engineering (RSPE) at the Australian National University (ANU)
on 3 July 2015. Professor Buckman is continuing to research
atomic and electron spectroscopy, and applications of electron
and positron physics with the ANU as an Emeritus Professor.
Following postdoctoral positions at the University of Manchester
and the University of Colorado, Professor Buckman returned to Australia in 1983 to take up
a position in RSPE at ANU and was appointed Professor of Physics in 1999. Between 1996
and 2000 he was Head of the Department of the Atomic and Molecular Physics Laboratories
at RSPE.
In 2000-2001, he held a Fulbright Senior Fellowship at the University of California and, on his
return to Australia, was appointed to Associate Director (Academic) of RSPE. In 2005
Professor Buckman was the lead proponent of a Centre of Excellence bid to the Australian
Research Council. The bid to establish the Centre of Excellence for Antimatter-Matter
Studies was successful and he led the Centre, as Research Director, from 2006 to 2012. In
March 2012 he was appointed as Director of RSPE.
Professor Buckman holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours I) and a Doctor of Philosophy in
Atomic Physics, both from Flinders University. In 2006, he was awarded one of 40 inaugural
Distinguished Alumni Awards by Flinders University to celebrate its 40th Anniversary. In
2008 he was awarded the ANU Vice Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Service to the
University, and in 2012 he received the Flinders University Convocation Medal for
outstanding achievement of Flinders alumni. He has published more than 200 refereed
journal articles and book chapters on atomic collision physics and spectroscopy.
In 2014 Professor Buckman was awarded a member of the Order of Australia for significant
service to science in the field of experimental atomic physics as a leading researcher,
academic and author.