Dr Tessa Morrison

Biography

I graduated from my Phd in April 2004; I have continued to develop a reputation in the area of architectural history. I have a sustained and long term research program with international outputs. In March 2007, I began a five year contract as a Research Fellow in Architectural History and in March 2008 I begun a ARC Discovery Grant 2008-2010. Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship entitled 'Isaac Newtons Temple of Solomon and his analysis of sacred architecture: An interpretation and discussion of Babson Manuscript 0434.' Babson Manuscript 0434 on Solomon's Temple was written by Isaac Newton in c1680. It is written in four languages: English, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The first monograph from this project will be published in January 2011 and is entitled 'Isaac Newton's Temple of Solomon and his Reconstruction of Sacred Architecture," published by Birkhauser.

My research is multi-disciplinary and incorporates a number of research areas including philosophy, mathematics and the history of architecture. It also is multi-skilled research as far as it requires palaeography, graphic skills ie ArchiCAD as well as traditional archival research and analysis. My translation skills, palaeography in Medieval and Early Modern Latin, enable me to translated manuscripts that have not been researched before.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Newcastle, 2003
• Graduate Diploma in Mathematical Studies, University of Newcastle, 1998

Research

Research keywords

• Architectural History

Research expertise

My research is multi-disciplinary and incorporates a number of research areas including philosophy, mathematics and the history of architecture. It also is multi-skilled research as far as it requires palaeography, graphic skills (ie ArchiCAD) as well as traditional archival research and analysis. My translation skills, palaeography in Medieval and Early Modern Latin, enable me to translate manuscripts that have not been researched before. Currently researching 16th-18th century architectural history - particularly the philosophies of the origins of architecture

Collaboration

Currently I am working of the second half of my ARC fellowship. The main outcome of this is a monograph on the sixteenth to mid eighteenth centuries philosophies on the origins of architecture. The tentative title for this monograph is 'The Origins of Architecture: an English Sixteenth to Eighteenth Century Perspective.' For this project I have already spend time in archives, such as British Library, Freemason's Library in London, Bath repository, England and many others to collect material from original manuscripts. However I am continuing to collect material from achieves with further field trips to archives and libraries this year. The monograph will examine the philosophies on the origins of architecture of John Dee, Ben Jonson, Inigo Jones, Isaac Newton, William Stukeley and John Wood of Bath and others.

Languages

• German
• Latin

Fields of Research

Centres and Groups

Centre

• Centre for Interdisciplinary Built Environment Research

Memberships

Body relevant to professional practice.

• Member - The Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand
• Member - The Australian Early Medieval Association
• Member - The Australan and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies

Committee/Associations (relevant to research).

• Project Officer and book review editor - The Australian Early Medieval Association

Appointments

Awards

Research Award.

Invitations