GORDON TROUP
Physicist
25-2-1932 - 21-12-2015
Dr Gordon Troup, who built Australia's first laser, was a pioneering physicist, and memorable Monash University identity and teacher for over 54 years.
Born in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) where his father managed a tea plantation, Gordon and his two older brothers were brought to Melbourne in   September 1939 for the duration of WWII. Gordon, who has died of cancer at 83, was a boarder at Burke Hall (1940-43) and then at Xavier College (1944-48) where he rowed, played football and cricket, and joined the St Vincent De Paul Society- an affiliation he would later renew through the North Fitzroy St Vincent De Paul Conference. In Form 6 Gordon won the Dr. John Niall Prize for Science.
While attending the University of Melbourne from 1949 to 1952, Gordon was a resident scholar at Newman College. He rowed in the first eight and, in 1951, was president of the College Dramatic Society. 
After completing his BSc degree in 1952, he joined the Weapons Research Establishment (WRE) at Salisbury, South Australia. During secondment to the Royal Aircraft Establishment in England from 1956-8 to learn about the new field of Masers (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), he also gained an MSc from London University. His 1959 monograph, Masers, one of the first two books on the subject, was based on his MSc thesis. Lasers were incorporated in the 2nd edition, published in 1963 as Masers and Lasers.
Back at WRE, in 1961 Gordon designed a ruby laser, the first laser ever built in Australia. A recent article in Australian Physics describes him as the "founder of Australian laser research". Joining Monash University as a lecturer in physics in late 1961, he was quickly promoted to senior lecturer and, in 1969, to reader.
Gordon's early research at Monash encompassed four different areas of magnetic resonance: Antiferromagnetic Resonance, Cyclotron Resonance, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Electron Spin Resonance (ESR), the latter involving studies of metal ions in natural and synthetic minerals searching for suitable laser materials. Realising that lasers would soon revolutionise optics, he attended the 1963 Quantum Electronics Conference in Paris. This led to research in quantum electronics and photon counting.
When Gordon successfully built a gas laser at Monash in 1964, a former student recalls seeing him racing about the research labs exclaiming "It works!" - and a crowd rushing to admire the intense red beam.
Not only was Gordon author, co-author or joint-author of well over 100 research papers, he also wrote another five monographs: Optical Coherence Theory (1967), Understanding Quantum Mechanics (1968), Photon Counting and Photon Statistics (1972), Mechanics (1976), and The Physics of the Singing Voice (1981). In 1973 he was awarded a DSc from the University of Melbourne for his published work.
From 1994 he continued his research, and some teaching, as an Honorary Senior Research Fellow.
Having begun fencing as an undergraduate, he took up the sport in earnest whilst in England. After winning the South Australian State Foil Championship in 1961, he decided to concentrate on his physics career, though he did help establish the Monash Fencing Club and serve as its Coach. In 1975 he put his fencing skills to good use, choreographing a swordfight and training the actors for a student production of Hamlet.
Gordon's love of Italy and things Italian began in earnest during his sabbatical at the Quantum Electronics Department, University of Florence in 1965. It was through many subsequent visits to Florence that he began to think about the possible health benefits of antioxidants in red wine and coffee, and their detection using ESR. This came to fruition during his latter research. He collaborated widely, most recently with Dr Luciano Navarini from Trieste (Italy), who came upon one of Gordon's papers, entitled "The chemical origin of free radicals in coffee and other beverages". Gordon's prompt reply in "perfect Italian" took Navarini by surprise. When visiting Trieste, he "was like a PhD student in terms of curiosity and passion". Gordon's last published paper, on the benefits of well-brewed coffee, appeared last   April and achieved some acclaim.
Gordon attended the Annual Condensed Matter and Materials Meeting at Wagga Wagga some 22 times, presenting on many topics, including gemstones and the antioxidant properties of red wine and coffee. At Xavier, Gordon developed a lifelong love of the theatre and music, especially church singing, opera and folk.
During his first singing lesson with the late Joan Arnold, OBE, at Monash he realised it would be essential to explore the physics of the singing voice. For some 25 years he lectured on Musical Acoustics at the Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music.
He co-supervised the PhD of the late Peter Clinch, Australia's premier saxophonist. A loyal member of the choir at St Brigid's Church, North Fitzroy, he never stopped learning - two years ago he took master singing classes with maestro Riccardo Serenelli in Italy.
Gordon Troup is remembered by colleagues and former students as a "larger than life" iconic figure, and a true Renaissance man. A colleague whose office was next to Gordon's for over 30 years spoke of "his integrity, his sense of humour, and yes, his eccentricities too, and his laugh, yes, his laugh".
He is survived by his wife of over 50 years, Maggie, five adult children, and seven grandchildren.
Emeritus Professor John Pilbrow wrote this obituary with the assistance of Cynthia Troup, John Cashion, Trevor Finlayson, John Boas and Simon Drew.