Ian Fells is

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

of Energy Conversion at the

University of Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick un ...

, and former chairman of the "New and Renewable Energy Centre" at Blyth,

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Education and career

Fells was educated at King Edward VII School, Broomhill,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, then carried out

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in the

British army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, before studying at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

where he gained an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

then in 1958 a Ph.D. entitled "The kinetics of the hydrolysis of the chlorinated methanes".Cambridge University
Newton Library catalogue After lecturing in Chemical Engineering and Fuel Technology at the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

he was appointed Reader in Fuel Science at King's College of

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

in 1962. In 1963 this college became the

, and he was on the staff of the

Chemical Engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

Department.Underneath the Arches Spring 2008
The Fells Swoop (on Newcastle) He has been Professor of Energy Conversion at Newcastle University since 1975 and has published some 200 papers on a varied range of topics, including: *The chemical physics of

combustion Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combustion ...

fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen fuel, hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most bat ...

s * rocket combustion *

energy economics Energy economics is a broad scientific subject area which includes topics related to supply and use of energy in societies. Considering the cost of energy services and associated value gives economic meaning to the efficiency at which energy ...

environmental protection Environmental protection, or environment protection, refers to the taking of measures to protecting the natural environment, prevent pollution and maintain ecological balance. Action may be taken by individuals, advocacy groups and governments. ...

energy conversion Energy transformation, also known as energy conversion, is the process of changing energy from one form to another. In physics, energy is a quantity that provides the capacity to perform Work (physics), work (e.g. lifting an object) or provides ...

systems *

energy policy Energy policies are the government's strategies and decisions regarding the Energy production, production, Energy distribution, distribution, and World energy supply and consumption, consumption of energy within a specific jurisdiction. Energy ...

Fells is a long-standing advocate of

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...

. As of 2008, Fells was of the view that "any notion that renewables can provide for all our nergyrequirements is a mischievous and reckless boast".

Honours

In 1976 Fells was awarded the

Beilby Medal and Prize The Beilby Medal and Prize is awarded annually to a scientist or engineer for work that has exceptional practical significance in chemical engineering, applied materials science, energy efficiency or a related field. The prize is jointly administe ...

. He was then elected

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of The

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

in 1979 and was President of The Institute of Energy (now the

Energy Institute The Energy Institute (EI) is a professional organization for engineers and other professionals in energy-related fields. The EI was formed in 2003 by the merger of the Institute of Petroleum (dating back to 1913) and the Institute of Energy ( ...

) for 1978-79. In 1993 he received the Michael Faraday medal and prize from the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

, and was elected 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 1996. He was awarded the

Melchett Medal The Melchett Award is an honour awarded by the Energy Institute for outstanding contributions to the science of fuel and energy. It was created by and named for Alfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett, the 20th century businessman and philanthropi ...

of the

in 1999 and the John Collier Medal of the

Institution of Chemical Engineers The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a global professional engineering institution with 30,000 members in 114 countries. It was founded in 1922 and awarded a Royal Charter in 1957. The Institution has offices in Rugby, Warwickshire, ...

in the same year. He was awarded a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in June 2000. In the same year he presented the Higginson Lecture 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 ...

Other activities

Fells has made over 500 television and radio programmes, including the TV popular science series ''Take Nobody's Word For It'' with

Carol Vorderman Carol Jean Vorderman (born 24 December 1960) is a Welsh broadcaster, media personality, and writer. Her media career began when she joined the Channel 4 game show ''Countdown'', appearing with Richard Whiteley from 1982 until his death in 2005, ...

, and regularly appeared as guest expert and judge on ''

The Great Egg Race ''The Great Egg Race'' was a BBC television series, in which problem solving teams are given a challenge to design and build machines using limited resources and time, to solve a problem set by the judges. Sixty-eight episodes were produced and ...

'' from 1979 to 1986."Scientists honoured across the UK"
''BBC News'', 16 June 2000 He has been science adviser to the

World Energy Council The World Energy Council is a global forum for thought-leadership and tangible engagement with headquarters in London. Its mission is 'To promote the sustainable supply and use of energy for the greatest benefit of all people'. The idea for the fo ...

and special adviser to select committees of both the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

and the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

as well as serving on several Cabinet and Research Council committees. He was chairman of the UK-based

National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) Narec, since 2014 known as the National Renewable Energy Centre, is a part of the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult centres, Catapult, a British technology innovation and research centre for offshore wind power, Wave power, wave energy, t ...

IAEA: ''NUCLEAR POWER Current, Future Prospect and The Agency's Activities''
1 November 2004 and is an energy adviser to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, has advised a number of Foreign Governments on energy policy and is a consultant to various multi-national companies. In 2012 he created a Newcastle-based company, Penultimate Power, to develop

small modular reactor The small modular reactor (SMR) is a class of small nuclear fission reactor, designed to be built in a factory, shipped to operational sites for installation, and then used to power buildings or other commercial operations. The term SMR refers t ...

s. His wife is Hazel, a mathematician, and they have four sons, all engineers.Conference Programme
, UK Offshore Wind 2006

References

External links

Biography at Incoteco.com

Biography and publications
* , Ian Fells, 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fells, Ian English physicists English engineers British chemical engineers Engineering academics People educated at King Edward VII School, Sheffield Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Academics of Durham University Academics of Newcastle University Academics of the University of Sheffield Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)