Brian Wybourne

Brian Garner Wybourne (5 March 1935 – 26 November 2003) was a New Zealand physicist known for his work on the energy levels of rare-earth ions.

Brian Wybourne
Born(1935-03-05)5 March 1935
Morrinsville, New Zealand
Died26 November 2003(2003-11-26) (aged 68)
Toruń, Poland
Alma materCanterbury University College
AwardsHector Medal (1970)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
InstitutionsUniversity of Canterbury
Nicholas Copernicus University
ThesisAn analysis of the solid state spectra of trivalent rare-earth ions (1960)
Academic advisorsAlan Runciman

Born in Morrinsville in 1935, Wybourne attended Canterbury University College, graduating with an MSc with second-class honours in 1958 and a PhD in 1960.[1]

After post-doctoral research positions at Johns Hopkins University and Argonne National Laboratory in the United States, Wybourne returned to the University of Canterbury in 1966 to take up a professorship in physics.[2] He served as the head of the physics department from December 1982 to November 1989.[3] In 1991 he was a visiting professor at the Nicholas Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, and decided to remain there permanently.[2]

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1970,[4] and the same year he won the society's Hector Medal, the highest award in New Zealand science at that time.[5]

References
  1. "NZ university graduates 1871–1960: Wi–Z". Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  2. Butler, Phil (2004). "Brian Garner Wybourne". Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  3. Butler, Philip H. (2006). "Brian Wybourne: his life at Canterbury". In King, R.C.; Bylicki, M.; Karwowski, J. (eds.). Symmetry, Spectroscopy and SCHUR: Proceedings of the Prof. Brian G. Wybourne Commemorative Meeting, 12–14 June 2005. Toruń: N. Copernicus University Press. pp. 3–9. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  4. "The Academy: V–Z". Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  5. "Hector Medal". Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
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