Prof Dan Walls

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Dan Walls was a Professor of Physics in the Quantum Optics Group at Auckland University.

His main research interests were: quantum optics; foundations of quantum mechanics; atom optics; Bose-Einstein condensation.

Prof. Walls was a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. He was awarded the Paul Dirac Medal and Prize (1995) for "outstanding contributions to theoretical physics" by the Council of the Institute of Physics (U.K.) and the Einstein Medal and Prize for Laser Science of the Society of Optical and Quantum Electronics (1990).

Link to the Auckland Quantum Optics Group home page .

Eminent Physicist

Professor Daniel Walls widely recognised at home and abroad as the most distinguished physicist in Aotearoa New Zealand of present times, died on May 12, 1999. As a theorist specialising in quantum optics he was responsible for or played an essential role in most of the developments in that field during the past 25 years.

Dan Walls gained a BSc in physics and mathematics and a first class honours MSc in physics at the University of Auckland. He then went to Harvard as a Fulbright Scholar, obtaining his PhD in 1969. After holding post-doctoral positions in Auckland and Stuttgart he became a senior lecturer in physics at the University of Waikato where he became professor in 1980. Since 1987 he had been professor of theoretical physics at Auckland.

His major research interests centred on the interaction and similarities between light and atoms. In particular, he was fascinated by the ways that the particle-like nature of light (photons) could be controlled to make optical systems less susceptible to unwanted fluctuations. This should make possible improved telecommunications and computing systems. In recent years, he contributed greatly to our theoretical understanding of a new state of matter Bose-Einstein condensation, in which atoms act collectively like the photons in a laser beam.

Dan Walls was made a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and New Zealand. His many medals and prizes included the award in 1995 of the Paul Dirac Medal for theoretical physics. Previous recipients include Stephen Hawking, Roger Penrose and several others who have gone on to achieve Nobel Prizes.

Dan Walls stands unrivalled as the most distinguished Aotearoa New Zealand-born physicist to have lived since Lord Rutherford of Nelson, Aotearoa New Zealand's only Nobel laureate,

says Professor Geoff Austin, head of the Physics Department at Auckland.

A notable difference between the two is, however, that the study of science had reached sufficient maturity in Aotearoa New Zealand in Dan's time that he was able to practise the discipline he loved, physics, living in the country that he loved, Aotearoa New Zealand, at the international forefront.

Last updated: 20070126