An appreciation of Professor Bryan Coles
Bryan Randall Coles, who died suddenly on 24 February 1997, was
an emeritus professor in the Department of Physics. He will be
remembered for his major contributions to the physics of metals,
his encyclopaedic knowledge and intuitive understanding of the
physical properties of metallic alloys and compounds, and for
his friendship to many scientists, young and old alike.
He was born in Cardiff on 9 June 1926 and brought up in Wales,
obtaining his BSc in metallurgy from the University of Wales,
Cardiff: he was fond of saying, "my parents thought that
a working-class lad with that degree would always find a job in
the South Wales steel industry".
He studied for a DPhil at Oxford, where he worked with the eminent
metallurgist William Hume-Rothery and developed a lifelong interest
in the physics of transition metals and alloys. In 1950 he moved
to IC to take up a lectureship in metal physics, and he subsequently
became senior lecturer, reader and from 1966 professor of solid
state physics.
His years at IC saw exciting developments in research on metals
and alloys to which he has made many important contributions.
He built up a prominent research group in experimental solid state
physics and provided it with inspiration and dynamic leadership,
so it is no coincidence that many of his former research students
and postdoctoral fellows have remained in this general area of
research.
Bryan Coles had close links with the USA. Partly because of these,
the work of his group at IC was greatly enhanced by postdoctoral
fellows and visiting scientists from America. His inaugural lecture,
in 1967, entitled 'Solid state physics - in particular metals',
was a classic and is recommended reading for any young solid state
physicist or materials scientist.
Bryan's facility with language, founded on a wide knowledge
of English literature coupled with an innate sense of humour,
delighted his colleagues and led to some memorable and elegant
phrases. To quote one example, in a review on the Kondo effect,
referring to the strange low-temperature behaviour of dilute CuFe
alloys, he observed: "What we ascribed to some kind of metallurgical
craziness turned out to be the cornerstone of the temple".
It was Coles who coined the evocative term 'spin glass'
to describe the state of frozen-in magnetic disorder.
Inevitably, as time progressed, he became more involved with
university and scientific administration. At Imperial College,
he was dean of the Royal College of Science from 1984 to 1986,
and College pro rector from 1986 to 1990. There was considerable
pleasure when he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, in
1991: this richly deserved honour was a fitting climax to a distinguished
career, which continued with his appointment as emeritus professor
at Imperial College following official retirement in 1991.
He took up research with renewed vigour after his years as pro
rector and travelled extensively and published some 30 papers.
He was engaged in discussions about new experiments on his last
day at IC, three days before his sudden death. We have lost a
great solid state physicist, who will be sorely missed by his
worldwide circle of friends and colleagues.
Appreciation by David Caplin, professor of physics, Imperial
College and Keith McEwen, professor of experimental physics, Birkbeck
College.
A commemorative meeting will be held at a future date.
PHOTO : Photography by Nick Jackson, Blackett Lab Photography
and Publications.
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