Bruce Edward Hobbs

Who is Bruce Edward Hobbs?

Bruce Edward Hobbs AO BSc Hons PhD FAA FGSAust FTSE is an Australian structural geologist and science administrator. He is a Research Fellow of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and Adjunct Professor, University of Western Australia. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1991. He was appointed the first Chief Scientist in Western Australia in 2003 but resigned over fundamental differences with the Carpenter Government in 2006.

Hobbs has popularly defined structural geology as the study of "the way in which rocks get buried and deformed and metamorphosed." Hobbs has described his research career as moving "from being very fine-scale, like microscopic or even electron microscopic, to the much larger scale of almost the whole Earth now, trying to understand what goes on within the Earth." His latter interest has been described as "developing computer applications that simulate mechanical behaviour, fluid flow, heat flow and chemical reactions governing ore body formation. The goal is to produce a predictive modelling capability that enhances our ability to discover new ore bodies."