Background
He was born in Ilford, Essex on 19 February 1941. His father was largely absent during his early years, serving in the Middle East during the Second World War.
He was born in Ilford, Essex on 19 February 1941. His father was largely absent during his early years, serving in the Middle East during the Second World War.
He attended Becontree Heath Primary School.
With ten patents to his name he is in part responsible for the development of items such as flat-screen televisions and solar power cells. He worked closely with Walter Eric Spear Federal Reserve System in the development of Amorphous silicon and the creation of solar panels. Following a scholarship at age eleven, he studied at South East Essex Technical College and then Leicester University, graduating Bachelor of Science in 1962 and then undertaking a Doctor of Philosophy. From 1965 to 1967 he conducted studies at Purdue University in Indiana, United States of America. In 1967 he returned to Leicester University as a lecturer in Physics.
He met Walter Eric Spear whilst working in Leicester and together they went to Dundee University in 1969 to establish the Carnegie Laboratory of Physics to study non-crystalline solids.
In 1986 Dundee University created a personal chair in Solid State Physics for him, placing the university in a critical position in the development of semiconductors. He died of a heart attack on 9 September 1992, whilst on a trip to Switzerland to celebrate his thirtieth wedding anniversary.
As a close personal friend, Spear wrote his obituary. Spear"s own research career was effectively ended by LeComber"s sudden death.
Royal Society; Royal Society of Edinburgh.