Terence James Elkins

Terence James Elkins
Terence James Elkins, 1976
Born	8 March 1936 (1936-03-08) (age 80) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Citizenship	USA
Fields	Physics Astronomy
Institutions	Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratory Rome Air Development Center Mitre Corporation
Alma mater	University of Melbourne Boston University
Known for	First ascent of Mount Elkins
Notable awards	Harold Brown Award, 1979

Terence James Elkins (born 8 March 1936) is an Australian-born American physicist. In 1960, he participated in an expedition from Mawson Station which conducted the first geological surveys of the Napier Mountains in Antarctica. The highest of this group of mountains, Mount Elkins, was subsequently named after him. In 1979, he received the Harold Brown Award, the Air Force's highest honour for research and development, for research he conducted that contributed to the development of the AN/FPS-118 over-the-horizon backscatter (OTH-B) air defence radar system. This system, consisting of six one-megawatt transmitters and their associated horizontal linear phased array antennas, is currently the largest radar system in the world.

Elkins earned his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from University of Melbourne in 1957. He earned his master's degree in Physics and Astronomy from Boston University in 1967. He earned his PhD from the same institution in 1970, publishing a thesis entitled Studies of Ionospheric Irregularity Using Radio Astronomical Techniques.

After completion of his bachelor's degree, Elkins joined the ANARE team that wintered over at Mawson Station in Australian Antarctic Territory, East Antarctica in 1960. The wintering party comprised 33 expeditioners including 12 members of the RAAF Antarctic Flight; the Officer-in-Charge was Hendrick Geysen. That year, Elkins was part of a mechanised and sledging field party that travelled from Mawson Station to the Napier Mountains in Enderby Land, East Antarctica. The men of this expedition, led by fellow Antarctic explorer Syd Kirkby, conducted the first geological surveys of that area of the continent. The highest of this small group of mountains, Mount Elkins, was subsequently named after Dr. Elkins. Other survey teams that year visited the Framnes Mountains, conducted geological and survey work in the Prince Charles Mountains, and visited the Emperor penguin colonies at Taylor Glacier and Fold Island.