Dist. Prof. Jon Lawrence

Professor Jon Lawrence is internationally recognised for his work in the field of astronomical instrumentation. His reputation is based on a highly successful track record of securing research funding, leading research projects, and generating research publications. He has over two decades of experience in the development and implementation of instrumentation for astronomy (including telescope facility instruments, astrophotonics research, and Antarctic site testing), and has a prior grounding in the field of laser physics and photonics.

At AAO-Macquarie, he leads a large team of scientists, managers, engineers, and technicians working on an array of instrument projects for the world’s premier telescopes. These instrument projects bring together multiple disciplines in mechanical, optical, electronics, and software engineering with photonics and optical physics, to develop and commission leading-edge technologies to capture and analyse light from celestial objects. Such technologies advance the opportunity for astronomy discovery in many areas, from the nature and characterisation of exoplanets, to the population of stars within the Milky Way, to formation and evolution of galaxies, to studies of the most distant objects in the Universe.