Michael Drinkwater's Biography

1. University of Sydney BSc (1984)

   My first astronomy experience was a 1-week vacation school at the University of Sydney's Molonglo Radio Telescope while I was doing my 4-year BSc degree.

2. University of Cambridge Ph.D. (1988)

   My thesis research was on quasar clustering but I didn't even get to go to use a telescope!

3. Université Laval, Research Associate (1988-1991)

   My first job was at Université Laval in Québec City, Canada. Here I worked on quasar absorption line systems, dwarf galaxies, and the liquid mirror project. I also learnt to ski and speak French fluently.

4. Anglo-Australian Observatory, Staff Astronomer (1991-1996)

   My observatory work focused on completion of the "second epoch" photographic sky survey, based at the U.K. Schmidt Telescope. For research I mainly worked on dwarf galaxy studies in the Virgo and Fornax clusters as well as a new sample of quasars from the Parkes radio telescope.

5. University of New South Wales, Research Fellow (1996-1999)

   At UNSW I started the "Fornax Cluster Spectroscopic Survey" using the 2dF spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. I also became a proud father...

6. University of Melbourne, Senior Research Fellow (1999-2002)

   I led the discovery of a new type of galaxy, "ultra-compact dwarf galaxies" (UCDs) while at Melbourne, which we then investigated further using the Hubble Space Telescope.

7. University of Queensland, Senior Lecturer (2002--)
   For other career paths from the Melbourne Uni group see here