Keith Nugent
Keith Alexander Nugent is an Australian physicist. He is Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President at La Trobe University and a Professor of Physics at the University of Melbourne, Australia specialising in X-ray optics and near-field optics. He was born in Bath, England. He received a first class honours degree from the University of Adelaide and his postgraduate degree from the Australian National University in Canberra.
In 1989 Professor Nugent in collaboration with Dr. Stephen Wilkins pioneered a form of X-ray optics known as lobster-eye optics. Using the capillary structure found in lobster eyes, Nugent and Wilkins were able to design telescopes with a 360 degree view of the sky. This was initially planned to be used in a LOBSTER satellite which would, indeed, conduct 360 degree surveys of the sky, though never came to fruition. NASA currently have plans to use the technology to view space objects and phenomena from the International Space Station.
In 2001 Nugent was made a Federation Fellow by the Australian Government. This position was renewed in 2006. He also chairs the Sciences Advisory Board of IATIA, a company designed to commercialise some of his inventions. Nugent is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. He sits on the Advisory Board of the Australian Synchrotron.
Since 2005 Nugent has been director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coherent X-ray Science, based at the University of Melbourne, where he has driven the development of coherent X-ray diffraction methods for imaging biological structures. His other research focusses on the complete recovery of phase from intensity and the applications of this to imaging. This work is currently being used to monitor wear in car engines and has potential for research into the treatment of cancer.
In 2011 Nugent was appointed part-time Director of the Australian Synchrotron.
He was appointed as Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President at La Trobe University in January 2013.Academic achievements, awards and honors
