Sir John Roy Sambles FRS HonFInstP (born 1945) is an English experimental physicist and a former President of the Institute of Physics.[1]

Roy Sambles
Sambles in 2012
Born1945
NationalityBritish
Alma materImperial College London
Known forliquid crystal physics, surface plasmons, microwave photonics, Metamaterials, Natural Photonics
AwardsYoung Medal and Prize (2002)
Faraday Medal and Prize (2012)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysicist
InstitutionsUniversity of Exeter

Sambles, originally from Callington in Cornwall,[2] studied physics at Imperial College, London, gaining his BSc and PhD degrees there, and has since published over 550 papers in international journals. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 2002.[3]

Sambles is currently Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Exeter, he has a long and distinguished career researching the interaction of light with matter. His group at Exeter have studied a wide range of systems including: liquid crystal devices; iridescent butterfly wings; surface plasmons and microwave photonics. These studies have applications in liquid crystal displays for televisions and computer displays, highly sensitive detection of materials (e.g. for medical diagnosis), and optical and microwave communication.

In 2008, he was appointed to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.[2]

Sambles was knighted in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to scientific research and outreach.[4]

Personal life

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Roy Sambles and his wife, Sandra (née Sloman), had three children.[citation needed]

Sambles is a Methodist local preacher and has served in that capacity for over 30 years, preaching in the Ringsash Methodist Circuit in Mid Devon.[5]

Edited books

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  • 1998: (edited with Steve Elston) The Optics of Thermotropic Liquid Crystals. London: Taylor & Francis ISBN 978-0-7484-0629-6

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ "New president-elect is announced". iop.org. The Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on 17 August 2014.
  2. ^ a b "SCIENCE FUNDING HONOUR". This is Cornwall. Cornwall & Devon Media Ltd, City Wharf, Malpas Road, Truro, Cornwall TR1 1QH. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  3. ^ "Lists of Royal Society Fellows 1660-2007". London: The Royal Society. Archived from the original on 24 March 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  4. ^ "No. 63135". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 October 2020. p. B2.
  5. ^ "Clarion Newsletter and Preaching Plan, Ringsash Methodist Circuit, March to May 2022" (PDF). Retrieved 5 September 2022.
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