Derek Abbott

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Derek Abbott
Born 3 May 1960 (1960-05-03) (age 48)
South Kensington, London, UK
Residence Australia, UK
Citizenship British - Australian
Fields Physicist and Electronic Engineer
Institutions University of Adelaide
Austek Microsystems
GEC Hirst Research Centre
Alma mater Loughborough University
University of Adelaide
Doctoral advisor Kamran Eshraghian
Bruce Davis
Doctoral students Said F. Al-sarawi
Matthew J. Berryman
Peter Celinski
Bradley S. Ferguson
Adrian P. Flitney
Gregory P. Harmer
Mark D. McDonnell
Samuel P. Mickan
Known for Parrondo's paradox theory
Stochastic theory
Experimental T-ray imaging
Influences Nicholas J. Phillips

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 is notable for leading theoretical work in the development of Parrondo's paradox, contributions to the field of stochastic resonance, and experimental contributions to T-ray imaging.

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[edit] Early years

In the period 1963-1965 Abbott attended the famous Norland College pre-school, Chislehurst, Kent, UK, as a boarder. Then during 1965-1967 he attended Oakfield School, Dulwich, UK. In 1968, he attended the École de Ferney-Voltaire, France, and the École Seminaire de Collonges-sous-Salève, 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. During 1971-1978 he attended Holland Park School, London, UK.

[edit] Career

In 1978, 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 in Electrical & Electronic Engineering in 1995 under Kamran Eshrahian and Bruce R. Davies. He is currently a full professor in the same department.

[edit] Selected publications

  • G. P. Harmer and D. Abbott, "Losing strategies can win by Parrondo's paradox," Nature (London), Vol. 402, No. 6764 p. 864, Dec. 1999.
  • J. M. R. Parrondo, G. P. Harmer and D. Abbott, "New paradoxical games based on Brownian ratchets," Physical Review Letters, Vol. 85, No. 24, pp. 5226-5229, Dec. 2000.
  • G. P. Harmer, D. Abbott, "Parrondo's paradox," Statistical Science, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 206-213, May 1999.
  • G. P. Harmer and D. Abbott, "A review of Parrondo's paradox," Fluctuation and Noise Letters, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. R71-R107, Jun 2002.
  • S. Mickan, D. Abbott, J. Munch, X.-C. Zhang and T. van Doorn, "Analysis of system trade-offs for terahertz imaging," Microelectronics Journal, Vol. 31, No. 7, pp. 503-514, Jul. 2000.
  • A. P. Flitney and D. Abbott, "Quantum version of the Monty Hall problem," Physical Review A, Vol. 65, Art. No. 062318, 2002.
  • G. P. Harmer, B. R. Davis, and D. Abbott "A review of stochastic resonance: circuits and measurement," IEEE Trans. Instrum. & Meas., Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 299-309, Apr. 2002.
  • A. P. Flitney, J. Ng, and D. Abbott, "Quantum Parrondo's games," Physica A, Vol. 314, pp. 35-42, 2002.
  • D. Abbott, P. C. W. Davies, and C. R. Shalizi, "Order from disorder: the role of noise in creative processes," Fluctuation and Noise Letters, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. C1-C12, 2002.
  • D. Abbott, B. R. Davis, N. J. Phillips, and K. Eshraghian, "Simple derivation of the thermal noise formula using window-limited Fourier transforms," IEEE Trans. Education, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 1-13, 1996.

[edit] Honours and awards

[edit] Erdős number

Abbott's Erdős number is 4. His path to Erdős is as follows:

  • E. S. Key, M. M. Kłosek, and D. Abbott, "On Parrondo's paradox: how to construct unfair games by composing fair games," ANZIAM J., 47, no. 4, pp. 495-511, (2006).
  • M. M. Kłosek, B.J. Matkowsky, Z. Schuss, "First-order dynamics driven by rapid Markovian jumps," SIAM J. Appl. Math., 49, no. 6, pp. 1811-1833, (1989).
  • R. O. Davies and Z. Schuss, "A proof that Henstock's integral includes Lebesgue's," J. London Math. Soc., 2, pp. 561-562, (1970).
  • R.O. Davies and P. Erdös, "Splitting almost-disjoint collections of sets into subcollections admitting almost-transversals," Colloq. Math. Soc. Janos Bolyai, 10, North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp. 307-322, (1975).

[edit] Scientific genealogy

Abbott's scientific genealogy via his primary doctoral advisor runs as follows:

[edit] Miscellaneous

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • In 1999, Cosma R. Shalizi, at the Santa Fe Institute, made a bet that if Abbott included the name "Monica Lewinsky" in a published scientific journal article he would pay for one beer. Abbott successfully met the challenge, in a paper on game theory, published in Chaos, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 705-714, 2001.
  • In the late 1990s, Abbott wore two watches, one on each wrist. When asked why, he would reply, "It is a way of identifying the best students—to check their powers of observation."[citation needed]
  • In the 1990s, during undergraduate lectures, if a student raised a hand and spotted a mistake in the lecture material, Abbott would open his wallet and give the student the lowest coin or note that he happened to be carrying. On occasion, if he forgot to bring coins, he had to part with a high denomination. Around 1998, he also adopted the same prize money approach for the "most perceptive question" asked in a lecture [1].
  • He attended Oakfield School at the same time as the singer Kim Wilde.
  • He attended Copthorne Preparatory School at the same time as the deputy editor of Private Eye, Francis Wheen.
  • At Holland Park School, the singer Yazz was one of his classmates.
  • At Holland Park School he was taught English Literature by the comedian Mike Walling and music by Andy Mackay the saxophonist of Roxy Music.
  • In the early 1970s he lived next door to Cat Stevens' drummer Gerry Conway in Holland Park, London.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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[edit] References

  • 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
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