Background
Roy was born in 1936, in Coventry, United Kingdom.
Roy was born in 1936, in Coventry, United Kingdom.
In 2001, forty years after gaining his doctorate at the University of Nottingham, Professor Roy Carey retired as Director of the Centre for Data Storage Materials at Coventry University. He graduated from the University of Nottingham in 1958 with a BSc Honours Degree in Physics and was subsequently awarded a Ph.D. in the same Department in 1961. After joining the Lanchester College of Technology in Coventry as a Lecturer in Physics in September 1961, he progressed to Senior Lecturer in 1964, Principal Lecturer in 1968, became one of the first Readers in the Coventry Polytechnic in 1976 and was appointed the University Professor of Magnetic Materials in 1986.
Since 1961 his research centered on applied magnetism and magnetic materials. He was the founder and leader of the Magnetic Materials Research (MMR) Group mostly concerned with properties of thin magnetic films and the development of new materials for applications in the data storage industry. From 1974 he was also responsible for the University Electron Microscopy Unit which provided a specialized microstructure investigation and micro-analytical service for staff, students, and local industry. In 1986 his group was commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry to report on the activity, in both the United Kingdom and Europe, concerned with the projected manufacture of 'Erasable Magneto-Optic Data Storage Systems' and subsequently he participated in a DTI mission to Japan to assess the status of the industry there. In 1989 his group was successful in obtaining research funding from the EU ESPRIT program. In collaboration with five major European companies a five year, 26Mecu program for the 'Development of European Magneto-Optical Storage Systems' was completed in 1997. In 1992 his group was designated a ‘Centre of Excellence’ in Coventry University and formally became the 'Centre for Data Storage Materials' with Professor Carey as its Director with four staff (including a Reader), a postdoctoral fellow and seven research students.
Professor Carey is a Fellow of both the Institute of Physics and the Royal Microscopical Society. He is co-author of the book, 'Magnetic Domains and Techniques for their Observation' (1966), three major reviews, 'Magneto-optic Data Storage Systems' (1987), 'Optical Data Storage Systems' (1988) and 'Magneto-Optic Recording' (1995) and more than 150 scientific publications including numerous international invited presentations. He was awarded the degree of DSc of Nottingham University in 1999.
