Richard Q. Twiss (? – 20 May 2005) is famous for his work on the Hanbury-Brown and Twiss effect with Robert Hanbury Brown. This led to the development of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss intensity interferometer in the UK in 1954. Their work was controversial as it appeared to contradict the established beliefs about quantum interference. He and Brown received the Eddington Medal for their work in 1968. May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (141st in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... The Hanbury-Brown and Twiss effect refers to any of a variety of correlation and anti-correlation effects in the intensities recieved by two detectors from a beam of particles. ... Robert Hanbury Brown was a British astronomer and physicist born 31 August 1916 in Aruvankadu, India. ... Interferometry is the applied science of combining two or more input points of a particular data type, such as optical measurements, to form a greater picture based on the combination of the two sources. ... 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Eddington Medal, named after Sir Arthur Eddington, is awarded by the Royal Astronomical Society nominally once every two years for investigations of outstanding merit in theoretical astrophysics. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ...

Richard Twiss read mathematics at Cambridge, but his early contributions were to the theory of radar and basic electronics. His work in this area was included in the famous "five foot shelf"--a series of reference books in electronic engineering compiled at MIT that was the circuit designer's bible in the 1950s. Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space and change. ... The University of Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... This long range radar antenna (approximately 40m (130ft) in diameter) rotates on a track to observe activities near the horizon. ... Two digital voltmeters The field of electronics is the study and use of electrical devices that operate by controlling the flow of electrons or other electrically charged particles in devices such as thermionic valves and semiconductors. ... Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline that deals with the study and application of electricity and electromagnetism. ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a research institution and university located in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts along the Charles River and across from Bostons Back Bay district. ...

Twiss went on to help construct the Narrabri Stellar Intensity Interferometer. Observations with the interferometer began in 1965. Measurements made between 1965 and 1974 were used to establish the temperature scale for stars hotter than the Sun and this scale is still in use. 1965 was a common year starting on Friday (link goes to calendar). ... 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... The Pleiades star cluster A star is any massive gaseous body in outer space, just like the Sun. ... A sun is the star at the center of a planetary system. ...

The intensity interferometer has a very poor signal-to-noise ratio compared to the classical "Michelson" stellar interferometer. Twiss decided to pursue the Michelson alternative at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK. John Davis worked with him for a short while on this project. Albert Abraham Michelson. ... The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the national measurement standards laboratory for the United Kingdom, based at Bushy Park in Teddington, near London. ...

When the Royal Observatory of Edinburgh established its outstation at Monteporzio Catone just south of Rome, Twiss decided to move his Michelson interferometer there. Not only was the weather more conducive to astronomy, the food and wine were much superior to what was available in Teddington! City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Democratici di Sinistra) Area  - City Proper  1290 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,546,807 almost 4,000,000 1...

Speckle interferometry was discovered during that period by Antoine Labeyrie. This stimulated a renewed interest around the world in interferometry. In particular, John Davis and Robert Hanbury Brown became convinced that a Michelson interferometer would be cheaper to build and have superior performance to a new intensity interferometer. Typical short-exposure image of a binary star (Zeta Bootis in this case) as seen through atmospheric seeing. ...

In the mid-1970s Twiss's non-scientific interests gradually took over and he effectively retired from active involvement in science.

In the 1970s he made it clear that he regarded Australia as a colonial backwater. His reaction when told that William J. Tango was going to join Davis and Brown in Sydney was typical. "But William," he said, "they eat peas out of tins!"

In spite of that, a few years before his death Twiss visited Australia and fell in love with it. In 2004 he applied for permanent residence. He died on 19 May 2005. 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ...