Eleanor Elizabeth Bryce Campbell

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FRS FRSC

FInstP 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 ...

(born 13 April 1960) is a Scottish scientist who holds the Chair of Chemistry at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

Education

Campbell was born in 1960 in

Rothesay Rothesay ( ; ) is the principal town on the Isle of Bute, in the council area of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies along the coast of the Firth of Clyde. It can be reached by a Caledonian MacBrayne ferry from Wemyss Bay, which also offers an ...

on the

Isle of Bute The Isle of Bute (; or '), known as Bute (), is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault. Formerly a constituent island of the larger County of ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

to Isobel and William Cowan. She was schooled at Rothesay Academy before going on to study for a BSc in

Chemical Physics Chemical physics is a branch of physics that studies chemical processes from a physical point of view. It focuses on understanding the physical properties and behavior of chemical systems, using principles from both physics and chemistry. This ...

at the University of Edinburgh, passing with first class honours in 1980. She remained at the university for further 4 years studying for a

PhD 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 ...

, which she gained in 1986, on the topic of ''Electronic to rovibrational excitation in fast atom-molecule collisions''. She then went to the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

having received a

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

experimental physics Experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines in the field of physics that are concerned with the observation of physical phenomena and experiments. Methods vary from discipline to discipline, from simple experiments and o ...

Academic career

After her time as assistant professor at the University of Freiburg, Campbell became a departmental head at the Max-Born Institut in 1993. In 1998 she was made Chair of Atomic and Molecular Physics at

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...

, Sweden, before returning to the University of Edinburgh in to take up a post as Chair of Physical Chemistry in 2007 and then Chair of Chemistry 2013. Campbell was elected as a Foreign Member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

(physics class) in 2005 and a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

in 2004. In 2010 she was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

for her contribution to the understanding of relaxation channels and reorganisational dynamics of highly excited molecules and surfaces through experimental research. She was made a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) is one of the most prestigious awards conferred by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in the United Kingdom. Existing Fellows include award winning scientists and Nobel prize winners. FRSC awa ...

and 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 ...

in 2008. In 2018 she was elected as a member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

Current work

Campbell's group at the University of Edinburgh study the fundamental ionisation mechanisms and excited state dynamics of complex molecules in the gas phase using femtosecond laser spectroscopy. They also study carbon nanomaterials and develop microporous carbon-based materials for gas capture and storage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Eleanor 21st-century Scottish women scientists Scottish women chemists 21st-century Scottish chemists Scottish physical chemists Female fellows of the Royal Society Living people People from the Isle of Bute People educated at Rothesay Academy Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academic staff of the University of Freiburg Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Fellows of the Institute of Physics Fellows of the Royal Society 1960 births Scottish women academics Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of Academia Europaea