Alec Broers, Baron Broers

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Alec Broers, Baron Broers bigraphy, stories - Engineers

Alec Broers, Baron Broers : biography

17 September 1938 –

Alec Nigel Broers, Baron Broers, Kt, FRS, FREng (born 17 September 1938) is an Anglo-Australian electrical engineer.

Broers was born in Calcutta, India and educated at Geelong Grammar School and Melbourne University in Australia, and then University of Cambridge (Gonville and Caius College) in England.

He then worked in the research and development laboratories of IBM in the United States for 19 years before returning to Cambridge in 1984 to become Professor of Electrical Engineering (1984–96) and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge (1985–90). He is a pioneer of nanotechnology.

Broers subsequently became Master of Churchill College, Cambridge (1990–96) and Head of the Cambridge University Engineering Department (1993–96). He was Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, 1996–2003. In 1997 he was invited to deliver the to the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland. He chose the subject ‘The Role and Education of the Creative Engineer’. He was knighted in 1998 and created a life peer in 2004, as Baron Broers, of Cambridge in the County of Cambridgeshire. Lord Broers was Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Lords from 2004 to 2007 and was President of the Royal Academy of Engineering from 2001 to 2006.

In September 2008, Lord Broers took over from Sir David Cooksey as chairman of the board of directors at the Diamond Light Source, the United Kingdom’s largest new scientific facility for 45 years.

Lord Broers has received more than twenty honorary degrees and fellowships from universities, colleges, and academic and professional institutions. He is a Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, and the American Philosophical Society.

External sources

  • were given by Lord Broers
  • , March 2005
  • , March 2005

Category:1938 births Category:People educated at Geelong Grammar School Category:University of Melbourne alumni Category:Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Category:Fellows of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Category:Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Category:Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Category:Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge Category:Masters of Churchill College, Cambridge Category:Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge Category:Knights Bachelor Category:People’s peers Category:Australian peers Category:Living people Category:IBM Fellows Category:Fellows of the Royal Society Category:Trustees of the British Museum Category:Vodafone people Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering

Summary of important events of Lord Broers

  • 1938 Born 17 September in Calcutta, India
  • 1941 Moved to Sydney, Australia
  • 1944 Moved to Purley, Surrey, UK
  • 1948 Moved to Melbourne, Australia and attended Geelong Grammar School
  • 1959 BSc degree in physics from Melbourne University, Australia
  • 1962 BA degree in electrical sciences from the University of Cambridge, after arriving initially as a choral scholar
  • 1965 PhD degree at University of Cambridge, thesis titled Selective ion beam etching in the scanning electron microscope
  • 1965 Researcher at IBM USA, and serving on the Corporate Technical Committee
  • 1977 Appointed to IBM Fellow by IBM’s CEO.
  • 1984 Returns to the University of Cambridge as Professor of Electrical Engineering and Fellow of Trinity College
  • 1990 Master of Churchill College
  • 1992 Head of Cambridge University Engineering Department
  • 1995 Becomes a non-executive director of Lucas Industries
  • 1996 Vice Chancellor, University of Cambridge (until 2003)
  • 1997 Becomes a non-executive director of Vodafone
  • 1998 Knighted for services to education
  • 1998 Founded the Cambridge Network with Hermann Hauser and David Cleevely
  • 2001 President of The Royal Academy of Engineering
  • 2004 Granted a Life Peerage (became Lord Broers)
  • 2004 Becomes Chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee
  • 2005 Broers presents the Reith Lectures for the BBC
  • 2008 Becomes Chairman of Diamond Light Source Ltd.
  • 2009 Becomes Chairman of Bio Nano Consulting.
  • 2010 Becomes Chairman of the Technology Strategy Board Knowledge Transfer Network for Transport.
  • 2012 Becomes Chairman of the Judging Panel of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.