Arthur Cracknell graduated in physics from Cambridge University in 1961 and then did his DPhil at Oxford University on "Some band structure calculations for metals". He worked as a lecturer in physics at Singapore University (now the National University of Singapore) from 1964-1967 and at Essex University from 1967-1970, before moving to Dundee University in 1970, where he became a professor in 1978. He retired from Dundee University in 2002 and now holds the title of emeritus professor there. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (UK), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Scotland) and a Fellow of the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (UK). He is currently working on various short-term contracts in several universities and research institutes in China and Malaysia.
After several years of research work on the study of group-theoretical techniques in solid state physics, in the late 1970s Dr. Cracknell turned his research interests, to remote sensing and has been the editor of the International Journal of Remote Sensing since the 1980s. His particular research interests include the extraction of the values of various geophysical parameters from satellite data and the correction of remotely-sensed images for atmospheric effects. He and his colleagues and research students have published more than 250 research papers and he is the author or co-author of several books, both on theoretical solid state physics and on remote sensing. He also pioneered the MSc course in remote sensing at Dundee University, which has now been running since the 1980s. His latest books include The Advanced very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) (Taylor and Francis, 1997), Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite: A new operational cloud imager written with Keith Hutchison (CRC Taylor and Francis, 2006) and a second edition of Introduction to Remote Sensing written with Ladson Hayes (CRC Taylor and Francis, 200
