Rod Boswell
{{Short description|Australian physicist (born 1932)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rod Boswell
| image = Roderick William Boswell (born 1932) in the video 'Behind the mission to get a new satellite thruster to space'.png
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| caption = In an ANU video in 2023
| birth_name = Roderick William Boswell
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1932}}
| birth_place = Yackandandah, Victoria, Australia
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| occupation = Physicist
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Roderick William Boswell (born 1932) is an Australian physicist. He is a professor at the Australian National University in Canberra, in the Space Plasma, Power and Propulsion group of the Plasma Research Laboratory.{{cite web |url=http://physics.anu.edu.au/events.php?EventID=79 |title= To infinity and beyond: Progress of the Australian Plasma Thruster |work= School Seminar Program |publisher= Research School of Physics & Engineering, Australian National University |date= 20 September 2012}} He invented a technology which become the basis for the development of a new type of rocket thruster, the Helicon Double Layer Thruster: the ongoing development of the Australian Plasma Thruster is supported by the European Space Agency.{{cite web|title=ESA and Australian team develop breakthrough in space propulsion
|date=18 January 2006|url=https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/25070-esa-and-australian-team-develop-breakthrough-in-space-propulsion|website=ESA|access-date=1 March 2023}}
Biography
Rod Boswell was born in Yackandandah in 1932.[http://people.physics.anu.edu.au/~rwb112/SP3/Boswell/Bos_history.html Rod W. Boswell - The Story], people.physics.anu.edu.au
After taking his B.Sc. at the University of Adelaide, he completed a Ph.D. at Flinders University in South Australia. There, in 1969, he was instrumental in establishing the radical student newspaper Empire Times by purchasing and running, in the living room of his home, an offset press, thereby liberating the new newspaper from the censorious tendencies of commercial printers.{{cite thesis|title=Student Activism in Higher Education: The politics of students' role in hegemonic university change|author1=Aidan Cornelius-Bell|date=18 October 2021|url=https://flex.flinders.edu.au/file/d2ad0848-0fea-40d9-af14-645b41573586/1/2165161%20Aidan%20Cornelius-Bell%20-%20PhD%20Thesis.pdf|publisher=Flinders University|access-date=1 March 2023}}
His honours and awards include:
- In 2000, he received the Plasma Science & Technology Division Plasma Prize from the American Vacuum Society "for outstanding scientific and technical contributions to the fields of plasma science and technology."{{Cite web |title=Plasma Science & Technology Division Plasma Prize |url=https://avs.org/awards/division-group-awards/plasma-science-technology-division-plasma-prize/]https://avs.org/awards/division-group-awards/plasma-science-technology-division-plasma-prize/ |access-date=26 January 2024 |website=American Vacuum Society}}
- In 2001 he was awarded a Centenary Medal "for service to Australian society in applied physics".{{cite web |title= Centenary Medal |url= https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1126196 |date= 1 January 2001 |publisher= It's an Honour }}
- In 2008 he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science{{cite web |url=http://www.sciencearchive.org.au/fellows/elected/2008.html |title=Fellows elected in 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323175634/http://sciencearchive.org.au/fellows/elected/2008.html |archivedate=23 March 2016 }}{{cite web |url=http://people.physics.anu.edu.au/~rwb112/SP3/Boswell/Boswell.html |title=Boswell |publisher=People.physics.anu.edu.au |accessdate=11 August 2015}}
- In 2012 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) "for service to science in the field of plasma physics as an academic and researcher and through contributions to the international scientific community".{{cite web |title= Member of the Order of Australia (AM) |url= https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1145090 |date= 26 January 2012 |publisher= It's an Honour }}
References
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External links
- {{cite news |title=ANU people given The Order on Australia Day |publisher=States News Service |date=27 January 2012 |accessdate=19 April 2015 |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-278123050.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319025837/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-278123050.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 March 2016}}{{subscription required|Via=HighBeam}}
- {{cite news |title=A vision to Mars |publisher=Australasian Business Intelligence |date=2 April 2004 |accessdate=19 April 2015 |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-114833976.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308213841/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-114833976.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 March 2016}}{{subscription required|Via=HighBeam}}
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Category:20th-century Australian scientists
Category:21st-century Australian scientists
Category:Academic staff of the Australian National University
Category:21st-century Australian physicists
Category:Members of the Order of Australia
Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society
Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science
Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering