Professor Marshall Stoneham becomes IOP President

Today Emeritus Professor Marshall Stoneham begins his two year term as President of the Institute of Physics (IOP). 

Currently Emeritus Massey Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at University College London (UCL), Marshall has announced his intent to listen to all sectors of the physics community, and help the Institute reach out to everyone with a stake in physics.

Marshall spent 31 years at the beginning of his career in the research laboratory of the Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) at Harwell. Initially researching the behaviour of defects in solids, he progressed to become Group Leader of the Solid-state and Quantum Physics Group at Harwell in the mid-1970s, publishing several books along the way, including Theory of Defect in Solids which is now an Oxford Classic.

His career at Harwell continued and, in 1990, he was appointed as Director of Research and then Chief Scientist of AEA Industrial Technology.

While maintaining a key interest in the industrial application of physics and the symbiotic relation between application and fundamental advances in theory, Marshall moved to UCL in 1995, where he became Director of the University’s interdepartmental Centre for Materials Research.

Alongside his industrial and academic career, Marshall has served as Vice-President of IOP Publishing, editor-in-chief of the field-leading Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, and founded Oxford Authentication Ltd with his wife, a small business which uses techniques from physics to authenticate art ceramics.

Marshall is an enthusiastic horn player and has also published books in this area.

Dr. Robert Kirby-Harris, chief executive of the Institute of Physics, said, “As an eminent physicist, passionately engaged in the application of physics, who has maintained a close relationship with the Institute over the course of his career, we’re delighted to welcome Marshall as our new President.”