Rate My Professor Garry Robinson

Dr. Garry Robinson serves as Honorary Senior Lecturer in the School of Science at UNSW Canberra, University of New South Wales. He obtained an Associate Diploma of Applied Physics from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Subsequently, he earned a BSc with First Class Honours and a PhD in Infrared Astronomy from the University of Melbourne. Following his doctoral studies, Robinson joined the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, where he has been listed as a lecturer in physics in university calendars since the 1980s. Over the decades, he advanced to Senior Lecturer roles within the School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, now part of the School of Science, contributing to physics education and research at UNSW Canberra.

Robinson's research spans astrophysics and the physics of projectile motion in sports. His early work focused on theoretical radiative transfer models for circumstellar and interstellar grains, dust shell models of ultracompact HII regions, pre-main sequence objects, and infrared observations of Bok globules. Key publications include 'A study of the 2.5-25μm spectrum of H2O ice' (Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1998), 'Measurements of the 44-μm band of H2O ice deposited on amorphous and crystalline SiO2' (Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1999), and contributions to studies on outflows in star-forming regions (Astrophysical Journal, 1997, 2001). In recent years, his publications have emphasized aerodynamics and spin effects on sports balls. Notable papers are 'The motion of an arbitrarily rotating spherical projectile and its application to ball games' (Physica Scripta, 2013), 'Radar speed gun true velocity measurements of sports balls in flight: application to tennis' (European Journal of Physics, 2016), a series on 'Model trajectories for a spinning tennis ball' Parts I-III (Physica Scripta, 2016, 2018, 2020), 'Spin-bowling in cricket re-visited: model trajectories for various spin-vector angles' (Physica Scripta, 2016), 'Physics puts new spin on bowling' (2013), 'Are inertial forces ever of significance in cricket, golf and other sports?' (Physica Scripta, 2017), and 'Fighter pilot ejection study as an educational tool' (Teaching Mathematics and its Applications, 2010). These works appear in journals such as Physica Scripta, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Astrophysical Journal, and European Journal of Physics.