C. Peter Flynn (August 18, 1935 – October 27, 2011) was a Professor of Physics and of Materials Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Professor Flynn was on the faculty of the University of Illinois from 1960 until 2011 and served as the director of the Frederick Seit
Materials Research Laboratory
from 1978 until 1987. He was a fellow of both the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

and the American Society for Metals, and was Chairman of the Department of Energy Council on Materials between 1985 and 2005. He pioneered the technique of molecular beam epitaxy, a method of growing crystalline solids from layers of selected elements. He also helped construct one of the first low energy electron microscopes in the United States.Flynn's faculty web page
at UIUC. Flynn was born in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...

, a small market town in North Yorkshire, England on August 18, 1935. He was the son of Francis Johnson Flynn, a police constable in the village of Hovingham, and his wife, Edith Hannah, a local war-time nurse. Peter received a full scholarship to the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

where he received his bachelor’s and Ph.D. in Physics in 1960. He subsequently earned an M.A. (Hon.) in physics from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. In 1960, Peter moved to the United States to take a post-doctoral position with the Physics Department of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he worked until May 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flynn, C. Peter University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty American physicists Alumni of the University of Leeds Alumni of the University of Cambridge 1935 births 2011 deaths