Emeritus Professor John R Pilbrow

BSc (Hons) (NZ) MSc(NZ) DPhil (Oxon) DSc (Monash) FAIP FInstP

School of Physics, Monash University

A physics graduate of the Universities of Canterbury and Oxford, Professor Pilbrow was for 36 years a member of the academic staff of the Department of Physics, Monash University, where he held a Personal Chair and was Head of Department for nine years. His interest in the interface between Christian faith and science goes back to his undergraduate days in NZ 50 years ago, nourished through involvement in the Research Scientists’ Christian Fellowship in both Oxford and Melbourne and, since the early 1990’s, ISCAST [The Institute for the Study of Christianity in an Age of Science & Technology].

Professor Pilbrow’s research is based on applications of electron paramagnetic resonance  , a branch of magnetic resonance, to studies of ordered and disorded solids, inorganic complexes and proteins, for which he received the 1998 Bruker Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry ESR Group in the UK. He is the author or co-author of more than 200 scientific publications and one book.

Professor Pilbrow, a former President of both the Australian Institute of Physics and The International EPR Society, is currently National President of ISCAST.

Professor Pilbrow’s interests include the fostering of dialogue at the interface between science and Christian Faith and the extent to which modern scientific paradigms, particularly those from physics, may illuminate our understanding of divine action.