Brian Keith Tanner
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Brian Keith Tanner CPhys,
FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...
, FInstP, FHEA is a British physicist, currently Emeritus Professor of Physics and former Dean of Knowledge Transfer at
Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...
.


Early life

Brian Tanner grew up in Northamptonshire, attending Wellingborough Grammar School. He studied undergraduate physics at Balliol College, University of Oxford, where he went on to graduate with a
DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in 1971 on 'X-ray diffraction topography; methods and applications'.


Career

Tanner is best known for research and business applications of X-ray diffraction topography. Tanner has worked at the Department of Physics at
Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...
since 1973, where he was made Professor of Physics in 1996 and was the University Dean of Knowledge Transfer from 2008 to 2016. He has published over 375 papers in international peer-reviewed journals and 4 books. In 1978 he co-founded Bede Scientific Instruments Ltd, since 2008 owned by Jordan Valley Semiconductors. Professor Tanner was the first Director of the North East Centre for Science Enterprise, serves as chief scientific advisor of the North East Technology Park (
NETPark NETPark, or the North East Technology Park, is a science park in Sedgefield, County Durham, Durham. It is owned by Durham County Council and run by Business Durham, the business support service of the council, with strategic partners Centre for P ...
) and now chairs the County Durham Economic Partnership.


Awards and honours

Tanner is a
Chartered Physicist Chartered Physicist (CPhys) is a chartered status and a professional qualification for physicists awarded by the Institute of Physics. It is denoted by the postnominals "CPhys". Description Achieving chartered status in any profession denotes ...
, a
Fellow of the Institute of Physics Fellowship of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) is "the highest level of membership attainable" by physicists who are members of the Institute of Physics (IoP), "for those with a degree in physics or related subject (or equivalent knowledge gaine ...
, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...
Jointly awarded the 2005 Barrett Award of the International Center for Diffraction Data. Awarded the
Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion The Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion is one of the Queen's Awards for Enterprise, and is awarded annually to people who play an outstanding role in promoting the growth of business enterprise and/or entrepreneurial skills in other people ...
in 2012 for his work in promoting enterprise and business in the North East. In 2014 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 ...
awarded Tanner the
Gabor Medal The Gabor Medal is Awards, lectures and medals of the Royal Society, one of the medals awarded by the Royal Society for "acknowledged distinction of interdisciplinary work between the life sciences with other disciplines". The medal was creat ...
for distinguished work in the application of physics in an industrial, commercial or business context.


Personal life

Married to Ruth Tanner, formerly a Trustee and Deputy President of the
Workers' Educational Association Workers' Educational Associations (WEA) are not-for-profit bodies that deliver further education to adults in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. WEA UK WEA UK, founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult edu ...
and currently secretary of the Cobweb Orchestra, about which she published a history in 2013. He has two sons: Rob is a teacher and Director of Cross-Curricular Learning at St Albans School and Tom is a climate change academic at SOAS University of London.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Brian Alumni of Linacre College, Oxford English physicists Fellows of the Institute of Physics 1947 births Living people Fellows of the Higher Education Academy