Peter Ridd

Peter Vincent Ridd is an Australian physicist, author, and former professor at James Cook University (JCU), North Queensland, Australia.

Ridd is known for a lengthy legal battle with his former employer JCU, which has been variously characterised as a battle for academic freedom and as a media campaign seeking to discredit the science informing the protection of the Great Barrier Reef.

Education Ridd received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from James Cook University in 1978, and later a PhD in Physics from that same institution in 1980. At this time, he also joined the Australian Institute of Marine Science. He started studying the Great Barrier Reef in 1984, mainly focusing on ocean currents and the movement of sediment.

Career While teaching at JCU, Ridd was the head of the Physics department from 2009 to 2016, and head of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at that institution for 15 years.

Great Barrier Reef article

With Piers Larcombe, Ridd wrote an opinion piece in November 2017, published in the January 2018 issue of Marine Pollution Bulletin, challenging the prevailing understanding of the state of the Great Barrier Reef, drawing attention to what he argued was a reproducibility crisis and certain specific papers relating to the state of the Great Barrier Reef, and recommending a new review body for policy science. Ridd appealed to the High Court of Australia, but that appeal was dismissed.