Alan Bernard Lidiard (9 May 1928 – 21 November 2020), or A. B. Lidiard, was a British condensed matter physicist known for his research into defects in materials.[1][2]

Alan Lidiard
Born
Alan Bernard Lidiard

(1928-05-09)9 May 1928
Died21 November 2020(2020-11-21) (aged 92)
EducationKing's College London
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Reading
Atomic Energy Research Establishment
University of Oxford
ThesisThe theory of collective electron ferromagnetism
Doctoral advisorCharles Coulson
Other academic advisorsFriedrich Seitz
Charles Kittel
Doctoral studentsRichard Catlow

Education and career

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Lidiard studied theoretical physics under Charles Coulson at King's College London, obtaining an MSc in 1950 and a PhD in 1952.[3] He spent two years as a Fulbright scholar in the USA, first as a research assistant for Friedrich Seitz at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and then under Charles Kittel at University of California, Berkeley. He took up a research fellowship in the Theoretical Division at Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell. Between 1957 and 1961, he was a Lecturer in Theoretical Physics at University of Reading. He returned to Harwell and set up the radiation damage theory group in the Theoretical Physics Division (TPD). Lidiard became the head of the TPD in 1966 until his retirement. Afterwards, he moved to the Department of Physics at University of Reading and the Department of Theoretical Chemistry at Oxford University.[1]

Honors and awards

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Lidiard was awarded the Guthrie Medal in 1988. He was a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.[1]

Personal life

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Lidiard married three times. He has two daughters from his second marriage.[1]

Bibliography

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  • Madelung, O.; Lidiard, A. B.; Stevels, J. M.; Darmois, E. (1957). Electrical Conductivity II / Elektrische Leitungsphänomene II. Berlin, Heidelberg. ISBN 978-3-642-45859-0. OCLC 913622108.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Allnatt, A. R.; Lidiard, A. B. (1993). Atomic transport in solids. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-511-56390-6. OCLC 852653597.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Grout, Peter; Catlow, Richard; Grimes, Robin (18 April 2021). "Alan Lidiard Obituary". Philosophical Magazine. 101 (8): 905–906. Bibcode:2021PMag..101..905G. doi:10.1080/14786435.2021.1906970. ISSN 1478-6435. S2CID 233205928.
  2. ^ Lidiard, Alan B. (2003). "70 years of defect physical chemistry". Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 5 (11): 2161–2163. doi:10.1039/B301881B. ISSN 1463-9076.
  3. ^ "Obituaries 2020". www.kcl.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2022.