Dr Alexander L MacKinnon
Adult and Continuing Education - Senior Lecturer
0141 330 1857
A.MacKinnon@educ.gla.ac.uk
Academic profile
Qualifications: BSc, PhD, FRAS
Alec MacKinnon coordinates and teaches courses for the public in Astronomy, Physics and Computing. He is Access Co-ordinator in DACE and plays a central role in the Science Access course which enables adults to enter higher education. These activities are informed by continuing involvement in astrophysics research.
Homepage: http://www.gla.ac.uk/adulteducation/Personnel/alec.html
Research interests
Physics of solar flares; solar radio, X- and gamma-ray production; astrophysical particle acceleration and transport; neutron astronomy; self-organised criticality and complex systems.
Selected publications
Hudson, H. S., MacKinnon, A. L., Frewen, S., DeRosa, M. (2009) Coronal radiation belts. Astrophysical Journal 698, L86-L89
Krucker, S., Hurford, G. J., MacKinnon, A. L., Shih, A. Y., Lin, R. P. (2008) Coronal gamma-ray bremsstrahlung from solar-flare accelerated electrons, Astrophysical Journal 678, L63-L66
MacKinnon, A. L. (2007) Solar hard X-ray halo from decaying neutrons, Astronomy & Astrophysics 462, 763-767
Galloway, R K., Helander, P, MacKinnon, A L (2006) Cross-field diffusion of electrons in tangled magnetic fields and implications for coronal fine structure, Astrophysical Journal 646, 615-624
Kontar, E P, MacKinnon, A L, Schwartz, R, Brown, J C (2006) Compton backscattered and primary X-rays from solar flares: angle dependent Green's function correcton for photospheric albedo, Astronomy and Astrophysics 446, 1157-1163
Grants and awards
STFC: Rolling Programme in Solar Physics, Stellar Physics and Cosmology; with J C Brown et al. (Physics and Astronomy); currently £1,317,847 (01/04/2008 - 31/03/2012)
PPARC (now STFC) Science and Society Scheme: Scottish School Science Curriculum Resources with the Bradford Robotic Telescope; with J C Brown (Physics and Astronomy); £7,800
Research collaborations
University of New Hampshire (USA), Bern (Switzerland), Berkeley (USA), Meudon (France), Mackenzie University (Brazil)
Co-Investigator on the DESIR instrument for the proposed SMESE space mission.
Academic and professional body membership
I am a member of the Board of CESRA.
