Murray Batchelor was born in Taree, NSW, Australia. He completed 1st Class Honours with a University Medal in Theoretical Physics at The University of New South Wales in 1983. He completed his PhD in Mathematics at The Australian National University in 1987 and then worked for a year at Instituut Lorentz for Theoretical Physics in Leiden, The Netherlands.

He was supported by the Australian Research Council through the consecutive awards of a Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellowship, two Senior Research Fellowships and an Australian Professorial Fellowship. He has also held numerous Large Grants with the Australian Research Council.

He was awarded The Australian Academy of Science Pawsey Medal (1997) for outstanding research in physics and The Australian Mathematical Society Medal (1998) for distinguished research in the mathematical sciences. He is the only researcher to receive both awards in mathematics and physics.

He was promoted to full Professor at ANU in 2001. From mid 2005 to April 2013 he was Head of the Department of Theoretical Physics, RSPE.

Professor Batchelor has held visiting positions at the Universities of Amsterdam, Oxford and Tokyo. Most recently he was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford during Michaelmas Term 2013. 

In June 2008 Professor Batchelor was awarded an Honorary Professorship from Chongqing University in Chongqing, China. During 2013 he took up a position there in the Centre for Modern Physics.

Professor Batchelor served a term as Editor-in-Chief (2009-2013) of the UK based Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical. Prior to this he was Mathematical Physics Section Editor (2007-2008) and a member of the Editorial Board (2005-2006), and is currently Topical Reviews Editor (2014-). He also served on the Editorial Board of Journal of Statistical Mechanics (2004-2008). In 2007 he was a member of the Mathematical and Information Sciences and Technology Assessment Panel for the Australian Research Quality Framework.

Professor Batchelor is a Fellow of the Australian Mathematical Society, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (UK).

He is a Council Member of the Asia-Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics.

Professor Batchelor is a member of the Chatham High School Hall of Fame, where he participated in the Scientists in Schools program in 2013.

Entry at google scholar 

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Main area of research activity is on various aspects of integrable mathematical models and their applications in physics. 

See, e.g., Fermi gases in one dimension: from Bethe Ansatz to experiments in Reviews of Modern Physics.

A research highlight on scaling and quantum criticality in 1D bosons can be found here.

Secondary area of research is on mathematical models of growth and form. 

Maths Helps Unlock Secrets of Early Life.

Link to previous work on stromatolites.