Cyril Hilsum

Background

HILSUM, Cyril was born on May 17, 1925 in London. Son of Ben and Ada Hilsum.

Education

He entered Raine"s Foundation School in 1936 as the middle of three brothers, leaving in 1943 after being accepted into University College London, where he did his Bachelor of Science

Career

In 1945 he joined the Royal Naval Scientific Service, moving in 1947 to the Admiralty Laboratory. In 1950 he transferred again to the Services Electronics Laboratory (SERL) where he remained until 1964 before again moving, this time to the Royal Radar Establishment. In 1983 he was appointed Director of at General Electric Company Hirst Centre.

He was awarded the Max Born Prize in 1987, the 1988 Faraday Medal, and from then until 1990 served as President of the Institute of Physics.

In the 1990 Queen"s Birthday Honours he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for "services to the Electrical and Electronics Industry". He was the subject of a photograph by Nick Sinclair in 1993 that is currently held by the National Portrait Gallery.

He has served as a corporate research advisor for various entities, including Cambridge Display Technology, the European Commission and Unilever. In 2007 he was awarded the Royal Society"s Royal Medal "for his many outstanding contributions and for continuing to use his prodigious talents on behalf of industry, government and academe to this day".

He currently serves as Chairman of the Scientific Board for Peratech and is a Visiting Professor of Physics at University College London, as well as sitting on the Defence Scientific Advisory Council.

In 2006 he was made a Fellow of the ESSCIRC, and in 2007 wrote an obituary for Gareth Roberts for The Guardian and the Royal Society. While working for the Ministry of Defence Hilsum helped develop commercial applications for gallium arsenide, and was responsible for creating the United Kingdom"s first semiconductor laser. He was one of the developers of the Ridley-Watkins-Hilsum theory that provided the theoretical basis of the Gunn diode, and his research helped form the basis of modern liquid crystal display technology, bringing in over £100m to the United Kingdom government.

The British Liquid Crystal Society awards a Cyril Hilsum Medal each year "to British candidates for overall contributions to liquid-crystal science and technology.

The award is made to mid-career scientists who have made notable contributions to the subject over a number of years.".

Achievements

• He won the Welker Award in 1978, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1979 and an honorary member of the American National Academy of Engineering. In 1997 he was awarded the Glazebrook Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics, and is notable as the only scientist to hold both this and the Faraday Medal together. He also endorses the Karen Burt Memorial Award, named after his daughter, which is awarded yearly by the Women"s Engineering Society "to a woman engineer of high calibre who has newly attained full corporate membership and Chartered Engineer status through her relevant professional Institution and who has contributed to the promotion of the engineering profession".

Works

• book

  • Semiconducting III-V Compounds (International Series, Volume 1)

    (Concise but comprehensive treatment of theorectical and e...)

Membership

Science and Engineering Research Council 88. Science and Engineering Research Council since 1984. Science and Engineering Research Council 1984-1988.

Interests

• Tennis, chess, ballroom dancing.

Connections

Married Betty Hilsum in 1947 (died in 1987).

Father:

Ben

Mother:

Ada Hilsum

Spouse:

Betty Hilsum