Gad Fischer is former Head of Department. Prior to moving to the Australian National University he was Associate Professor of Chemistry at the Ben Gurion University, Israel. He is the author of a book on Vibronic Coupling.

Research Interests: Two main areas: one involves the use of infrared spectroscopy and its application to such problems as the structures, conformations and vibrational spectra of amino acids and peptides; the understanding of the photosynthetic mechanisms; and global warming resulting from halocarbons in the atmosphere. The other concerns vibronic interactions and molecular spectroscopy of aza-aromatics and related molecules. Ab initio computations of molecular structures and spectra are simultaneously carried out for both areas, and they allow for comparison between theory and experiment.

Selected Publications:

G Fischer, Heat pollution and global warming. Environmental Conservation, 17 (1990) 117 - 122.

M. Tulej, F. Guthe, M. Schnaiter, M.V. Pachkov, D.A. Kirkwood, J.P. Maier and G. Fischer, Electronic Spectra of the Carbon Chain Anions C_2n-1H^- (n=5-8) in the Gas Phase. J. Phys. Chem. A 103 (1999) 9712-9716

X. Cao and G. Fischer, Infrared spectra of monomeric L-alanine and L-alanine-N-D₃ zwitterions isolated in a KBr matrix. Chem. Phys. 255 (2000) 195-204

G. Fischer and P. Wormell, Vibronic analyses of the lowest singlet-singlet and singlet-triplet band systems of pyridazine. Chem. Phys. 257 (2000) 1-20