Paul Anthony Midgley (born 1966) FRS is a Professor of

Materials Science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at 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 ...

and a fellow of

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

Education

Midgley was educated at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

where he was awarded a Master of Science degree in 1988 and a PhD in 1991 for work on

electron microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of electrons as a source of illumination. It uses electron optics that are analogous to the glass lenses of an optical light microscope to control the electron beam, for instance focusing i ...

high-temperature superconductors High-temperature superconductivity (high-c or HTS) is superconductivity in materials with a critical temperature (the temperature below which the material behaves as a superconductor) above , the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. They are "high ...

Career

Before moving to Cambridge in 1997, Midgley held two

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

fellowships in the

Henry Herbert Wills Henry Herbert 'Harry' Wills (20 March 1856 – 11 May 1922) was a businessman and philanthropist from Bristol, and a member of the Wills tobacco family. He was the son of Henry Overton Wills III and Alice Hopkinson and was born in Clifton, Bri ...

Physics Laboratory at the University of Bristol.

Research

Midgley's research interests are in

electron tomography Electron tomography (ET) is a tomography technique for obtaining detailed 3D structures of sub-cellular, macro-molecular, or materials specimens. Electron tomography is an extension of traditional transmission electron microscopy and uses a trans ...

electron holography Electron holography is holography with electron matter waves. It was invented by Dennis Gabor in 1948 when he tried to improve image resolution in electron microscope. The first attempts to perform holography with electron waves were made by Hain ...

, energy-filtered imaging and ''

ab initio ( ) is a Latin term meaning "from the beginning" and is derived from the Latin ("from") + , ablative singular of ("beginning"). Etymology , from Latin, literally "from the beginning", from ablative case of "entrance", "beginning", related t ...

'' structure determination by

electron diffraction Electron diffraction is a generic term for phenomena associated with changes in the direction of electron beams due to elastic interactions with atoms. It occurs due to elastic scattering, when there is no change in the energy of the electrons. ...

. During his research, Midgley has collaborated with Mark Welland, Rafal Dunin-Borkowski, Neil Mathur,

John Meurig Thomas Sir John Meurig Thomas (15 December 193213 November 2020), also known as JMT, was a Welsh scientist, educator, university administrator, and historian of science primarily known for his work on heterogeneous catalysis, solid-state chemistry, ...

Brian F. G. Johnson Brian Frederick Gilbert Johnson (born 11 September 1938 in Northampton, England) is a British scientist and emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of Cambridge. He was also Master of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge from 1999 to 2005. ...

and Henning Sirringhaus. Midgley's research has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC),UK Government research grants awarded to Paul Midgley
via

Research Councils UK Research Councils UK, sometimes known as RCUK, was a non-departmental public body that coordinated science policy in the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2018. It was an umbrella organisation that coordinated the seven separate research councils ...

the

Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 is an institution founded in 1850 to administer the Great Exhibition, Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, which was held in The Crystal Palace, London. The founding Presid ...

and 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 ...

.Professor Paul A. Midgley
University of Cambridge

Awards and honours

Midgley was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2014. His nomination reads:

References

Living people Fellows of the Royal Society Alumni of the University of Bristol Academics of the University of Cambridge British materials scientists Fellows of Peterhouse, Cambridge 1966 births {{UK-scientist-stub