Flowers , Brian Hilton , b 1924 , Baron Flowers of Queen's Gate in the City of Westminster , physicist

Flowers , Brian Hilton , b 1924 , Baron Flowers of Queen's Gate in the City of Westminster , physicist

Born Blackburn, Lancashire, 1924; educated at Bishop Gore Grammar School, Swansea; read physics and electronics at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; joined the Anglo-Canadian Atomic Energy Project in Canada, at the University of Montreal, 1944, and Chalk River, Ontario, 1945; joined the Nuclear Physics Division of the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, 1946; working on the measurement of the thermal cross-section of tritium and devising a method of measuring the photodisintegration of the deuteron; transferred to the Theoretical Physics Division at Harwell, 1948, undertaking work on nuclear reactions; conducted research at the Department of Mathematical Physics, University of Birmingham, 1950-1952, working largely on problems of nuclear structure relating to the nuclear shell model, in collaboration with AR Edmonds; awarded a DSc by the University of Birmingham, 1953; Head of the Theoretical Physics Division at Harwell, 1952; Chief Research Scientist, 1958; Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Manchester, 1958; elected Fellow of the Royal Society, 1961; Langworthy Professor of Physics and Head of Department, 1961-1972; member of the Advisory Council on Scientific Policy, 1962-1964, and Council for Scientific Policy, 1965-1967; Chairman of the Computer Board for Universities and Research Councils, 1966-1970; knighted, 1969; Chairman of the Science Research Council (SRC), 1967-1975, ensuring United Kingdom participation in the 300 GeV project at CERN and the SRC's establishment and development of the Engineering Board; Rector of Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, 1973-1985; President of the Institute of Physics, 1972-1974, and the European Science Foundation, 1974-1980; Chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, 1973-1976, and the Standing Commission on Energy and the Environment, 1978-1981; life peer (Baron Flowers of Queen's Gate in the City of Westminster), 1979; founder member of the Social Democratic Party, 1981; front bench spokesman on issues relating to science, education, energy and the environment until 1989; Chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals, 1983-1985; Vice-Chancellor of the University of London, 1985-1990; Chairman of the Nuffield Foundation, 1987-1998; Chairman of the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, 1989-1993; President of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, 1993-1997; Chancellor of the University of Manchester, 1994.

Publications: On the Fast Neutron Cross Sections, etc, (Harwell, 1949); Properties of Matter, (Wiley, Chichester,1970), with Eric Mendoza; An Introduction to Numerical Methods in C++, 1995; various articles for scientific periodicals.