Michael Anthony Flemming (born 1948) is a British physicist. He was educated at King George V GS, Southport, from where he gained a place to read Physics at

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

, specializing in solid-state physics and electronics. He continued his doctoral studies in the Electronics Department at

Southampton University The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities in the United K ...

, where he used the

micro-electronics Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture (or microfabrication) of very small electronic designs and components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre- ...

facility to fabricate high-frequency transistors and developed a test facility based on miniaturised

microstrip Microstrip is a type of electrical transmission line which can be fabricated with any technology where a conductor is separated from a ground plane by a dielectric layer known as ''substrate''. Microstrip lines are used to convey microwave-freq ...

probes - a technique which has subsequently formed a basis for commercial wafer probing systems. Following conferment of his PhD, he joined the Plessey Radar Research Centre, where he carried out pioneering work on Harmonic Radar. This has found applications in several fields where

transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...

s are needed to allow tracking of small objects; one example is the monitoring of bee populations. He then worked at the UKAEA Harwell research laboratory, where he led the Radio Frequency and

Microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than other radio waves but longer than infrared waves. Its wavelength ranges from about one meter to one millimeter, corresponding to frequency, frequencies between 300&n ...

Section. He was awarded the

Duddell Medal and Prize The Dennis Gabor Medal and Prize (previously the Duddell Medal and Prize until 2008) is a prize awarded biannually by the Institute of Physics for distinguished contributions to the application of physics in an industrial, commercial or business ...

by the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

in 1993 for his work on the application of microwave

ellipsometry Ellipsometry is an optical technique for investigating the dielectric properties (complex refractive index or dielectric function) of thin films. Ellipsometry measures the change of polarization upon reflection or transmission and compares it ...

to the detection of thin surface films of oil on water. Now retired, he pursues his interests in photography, music, and natural history.

References

British physicists Living people 1948 births Alumni of the University of Southampton Alumni of New College, Oxford {{UK-physicist-stub