Researcher

Emeritus Professor Joe Wolfe

My Expertise

The basic physics of the voice and of musical instruments. Cellular biophysics and thermal ecology.

Keywords

Fields of Research (FoR)

Classical Physics, Acoustics and Acoustical Devices; Waves, Human Biophysics, Biophysics

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Biography

BSc (UQ, 1974), PhD (ANU, 1979), BA (UNSW, 1988). Postdocs at Cornell, CSIRO, ANU. Invited professorship at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris. 

My lab's research is mainly on the basic physics of music and the voice. My publications download from http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/pubs.html

On-line educational projects are Physclips and a MOOC on introductory mechanics

Some of my music compositions are at view more

BSc (UQ, 1974), PhD (ANU, 1979), BA (UNSW, 1988). Postdocs at Cornell, CSIRO, ANU. Invited professorship at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris. 

My lab's research is mainly on the basic physics of music and the voice. My publications download from http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/pubs.html

On-line educational projects are Physclips and a MOOC on introductory mechanics

Some of my music compositions are at http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/Joe.html


My Awards

National and international awards for research

  • The Australian Acoustical Society: the 2010 Excellence in Acoustics Award (presented to Joe and the Acoustics lab at UNSW).
  • Artemis International Orchestra First Prize 2008 (for a robot to play a musical instrument), (Team member) 
  • The French Acoustical Society: the Society's 2004 International Medal (la Médaille Étrangère).
  • The Australian Acoustical Society: the 2004 Excellence in Acoustics Award (presented to Joe and the Acoustics lab at UNSW).
  • Acoustical Society of America: the 2003 Science Writing Award for Professionals in Acoustics.
  • France-Australia Science Fellowship, 1988.
  • Goldacre medal for distinguished research by the Australian Society for Plant Physiology (1984, shared)

  • Fellow of the Acoustical Societies of Australia and America.

National and international awards for teaching and outreach

UNSW and NSW awards

  • Australian Institute of Physics Outreach Award, NSW (2016)
  • UNSW Science Faculty’s Award for Teaching and Research Excellence (2012?)
  • Australian College of Educators quality teaching award (2006).
  • UNSW Vice-Chancellor’s award for teaching excellence (2002)

 


My Research Activities

My lab's research is mainly on the basic physics of music and the voice. My publications download from http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/pubs.html

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Location

Science
Room LG6 in the Old Main Building, coordinates J14 on campus maps. Map and plan of building are at http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/maps.html

Map reference (Google map)

Contact

93854954
56060

Follow

My ResearchGate
My Google Scholar

ORCID as entered in ROS

orcid_icon https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8030-0561

Videos

A demonstration to compare an open-open tube and a closed-open tube. From the large media collection Physclips at http://www.animations.physics.unsw.edu.au
For an introduction to our research in music acoustics, see
http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/
Young's experiment, one photon at a time. Real-time histogram of photon arrival vs angle.The classic interference pattern raises the questions: Which slit did the photon go through? and How can adding more photons make it darker?
From the large media collection Physclips at http://www.animations.physics.unsw.edu.au
This is an introduction to mechanics aimed at students with little physics background from high school. It requires some algebra but no calculus.
A concerto I wrote for Anthony Henrichs of the Sydney Symphony and harpist Marjorie Maydwell. It's had several performances in Australia and one in the US. More of my music is linked from
http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/Joe.html
Deborah de Graaff came to play a duet with the NICTA-UNSW clarinet-playing robot. The piece is a rearrangement of one by Tartini. More about that on
http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/clarinetrobot.html
The sting used for some of our physics videos.
A simple way of estimating the distance to objects of known size.
An introduction to the science of the voice. From the large media collection Physclips at http://www.animations.physics.unsw.edu.au
For an introduction to our research in this area, see
http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/speech.html
Flute-Clarinet hybrids: demonstrating different standing waves in science of music
Young's experiment—performed one photon at a time
Particles to Planets: Trailer for the Coursera course, now running on in-demand mode
Wolfe Trumpet Concerto, played by Anthony Henrichs and Symphony Central Coast
Robot and human clarinettists play a duet
Physics Sting
A rule of thumb (for calculating distances)
Voice production: an introduction to voice science

UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia Telephone +61 2 93851000
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UNSW CRICOS Provider Code: 00098G ABN: 57 195 873 179

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