Bragg Institute
News
Dave Penny Retired after 40 years
22 August 2008
After 40 years and 6 months of service to ANSTO, Dave Penny, the leader of our Technical Support Group, has retired. Dave joined the Neutron Scattering Group in July 2001 and supervised the technicians supporting the user program at the HIFAR Reactor. Once the program moved over to the OPAL Reactor in 2007, Dave played the same role with the new reactor, in addition to acting as our Quality Coordinator, amongst many other things. We wish him well.
Bragg Institute
The Bragg Institute is the strongest neutron and X-ray scattering group in Australia. It is located at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation's (ANSTO) site just outside Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. The Institute is named as a tribute to the father-and-son team of William and Lawrence Bragg, who were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915 for pioneering the analysis of crystal structures by means of X-rays
The centrepiece of our activities is the new OPAL research reactor, along with its state-of-the-art neutron-beam instruments, and our user programme is anticipated to begin mid to late 2007. This will place Australia at the leading edge, with facilities, staff and support competitive with the best facilities in North America and Europe. Our sophisticated in-house X-ray facilities complement our neutron instruments and are now available to experimenters. Finally, we provide access to overseas X-ray synchrotrons in Japan, the USA and Taiwan through the Australian Synchrotron Research Program, which we manage on behalf of the nation.
Much of our work is conducted in collaboration with our users and we pride ourselves on the excellent customer service we offer. Access to neutron beam instruments is by peer review based on merit, with no charge for beam time if results are published in the open literature. Access for proprietary work is available on a fee-for-service basis.
The Bragg Institute has substantial partnerships with other leading research organisations in Australia and is keen to develop more such relationships both within Australia and around the world. We intend to attract new users from Australia's scientific research community and the business sector.