Professor John Pilbrow FAIP, FInstP

Emeritus Professor B.Sc. (Hons), University of Canterbury, NZ ,1960 M.Sc. University of Canterbury, NZ, 1961 D.Phil. (Oxford University) 1964 D.Sc. (Monash University) 1978 Phone +61 (3) 9905 3630 FAX +61 (3) 9905 3637 Email:John.Pilbrow@monash.edu

Professor Pilbrow, for 36 years a member of the academic staff, Department of Physics, Monash University, held a Personal Chair and was Head of Department for nine years. Author or co-author of more than 200 scientific publications and one book. Winner of the 1998 Bruker Prize for EPR Spectroscopy, UK.

Professor Pilbrow is a past President of both the Australian Institute of Physics and the International EPR Society (IES), was elected a Fellow of IES in 2006. In 2000 he was elected an Honorary Member of the National Magnetic Resonance Society of India. He served as Co-Chair of the Organising Committee for the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium in Cairns 13-18 July 2008.

Professor Pilbrow is the author or co-author of more than 200 scientific papers, mainly in the area of Electron Paramagnetic Resonance and sole author of Transition Ion Electron Paramagnetic Resonance published by Oxford University Press in 1990.

Professor Pilbrow's research career has mainly involved applications of Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) to problems in condensed matter physics, inorganic chemistry and biochemistry, more recently involving pulsed EPR methods. From a physics perspective he has been concerned with the implications of low symmetries for interpreting spectra and with the consequences of the normal practice of sweeping the magnetic field and not the radiation frequency. Within inorganic chemistry he has been concerned for more than 40 years in using EPR spectroscopy as a tool for distance measurement in dimer complexes, something that later became relevant in studies of metal proteins. In collaboration with chemists and biochemists, he has been concerned with the properties of paramagnetic metal ions in biomolecules, beginning with some studies of B₁₂ [a cobalt co-enzyme] nearly 40 years ago.

Since retirement at the end of 2000, Prof. Pilbrow joined his long-time friend and colleague, Dr John Boas in applications of EPR spectgroscopy with colleagues in the Monash Chemistry Department and at Melbourne University. Work on transition metal ions in glasses with emphasis on the lack of local symmetry, on the one hand, and use of pulsed EPR methods, on the other, was completed with the thesis of his last PhD student, S.C. Drew, in 2002. Since the end of 2009 he has withdrawn from active involvement in magnetic resonance to concentrate on other interests.

Professor Pilbrow has long had an interest in the science-religion interface for more than 50 years and was President of ISCAST Ltd (Institute for the Study of Christianity in an Age of Science and Technology) from 2006-9. See http://www.iscast.org.au]. He has been a member of the Editorial Board of the UK Journal, Science & Christian Belief since 2002.

Prof Pilbrow lectured at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion in Cambridge (2007), preached at the Inaugural Science Week Service in St Paul's Cathedral (2009) and participated in the Anglican Archbishop's Conversation in Federation Square in October 2009 with Robyn Williams from the ABC Science Show. During 2010 he convened the Science & Religion Forum for the Centenary Conference of the Melbourne College of Divinity.

Prof Pilbrow has served the Melbourne Anglican Diocese as Deputy Chair, Committee on Christianity & Atheism [2010-11], Chair, Committee on Education [1985-1990] and on the General Synod of the Anglican Church [1985-1992].

Selection of recent scientific publications:-

1. Simon C Drew, John R Pilbrow, Peter J Newman and Douglas R Macfarlane (2001) ‘Field Swept Pulsed Electron Paramagnetic Resonance of Glasses’ J Phys D: Applied Physics 34, 2987-94.
2. Drew, S.C. and Pilbrow, J.R. (2002) ‘On the Theory of Mixing-Frequency Electron Spin-Echo Envelope Modulation Spectroscopy’ Appl. Mag.Res. 22, 561-576.
3. Drew, S.C., Pilbrow, J.R., Newman, P.J. and MacFarlane, D.R. (2003) ‘Superhyperfine Interactions in inhomogeneously broadened centers observed via a hole-burned free induction decay’ J Chem Phys 118, 3148-3153.
4. Misra, SK and Pilbrow, JR (2004) ‘Spin-Lattice relaxation of Fe3+ in commercial silicate glasses: Effect of exchange interaction’ Phys Rev B 69, 212411 1-4.
5. Boas, JF, Drew, SC, Pilbrow, JR, Boyd, PDW, Paul, P, Sun, P and Reed, CA (2003) ‘Spin States of C₆₀^3- and C₁₂₀O^n- (n=2, 3, 4) Anions Using Electron Spin Transient Nutation Spectroscopy’ J. Phys. Chem. 107, 11353-11359.
6. Bennett, MA, Bhargava, SK, Boas, JF, Boere, RT, Bond, AM, Edwards, AJ, Guo, S-X, Hammerl, A, Pilbrow, JR, Priver, SH and Schwertfeger, P. (2005). ‘Electrochemically informed Synthesis and Characterisation of Salts of the [Pt2(µ-κAs, κC-C6H3-5-Me-2-AsPh2)4]+ Lantern Complex Containing a Pt-Pt Bond of Order ½’ Inorg Chem 44, 2472-2482.
7. Baffert, C, Boas, JF, Bond, AM, Kogeler, P, Long, D-L, Pilbrow, JR and Cronin, L (2006) ‘Experimental and Theoretical Investigations of the Sulfite-based Polyoxometalate Cluster Redox Series: α- and β-[Mo₁₈O₅₄(SO₃)2]^4-,5-,6-’ Euro J Inorg Chem 12, 8472-8483.
8. Misra, S.K. and Pilbrow, J.R. (2007) ‘Exchange-mediated spin-lattice relaxation of Fe3+ ions in borate glasses’ J. Mag. Res. 185, 38-41.

Publication at the Science-Religion Interface

1. Pilbrow,John R. (2005) ‘The Impact of Einstein's Relativity on Christian Thought’, Christian Perspectives on Science and Theology, accessible at http://www.iscast.org/journal/articlespage/Pilbrow_J_2005-07_Impact_Of_Einsteins_Relativity