Brian Cantor (born 11 January 1948) has been a long-serving university leader, is a visiting professor in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford, and a consultant at the Brunel Centre for Advanced Solidification Technology (BCAST) at Brunel University. He was the

vice-chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

of the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...

from 2013 to 2019. Prior to this appointment he was the vice-chancellor at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

from 2002 to 2013, and previously he was the head of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division at the University of Oxford. Cantor is acknowledged as a world authority on materials manufacturing and is a former vice-president of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

. He has published over 300 books and papers, with over 16,000 citations and a Google h-index of over 50, and is on the ISI List of Most Cited Researchers. He invented the field of high-entropy alloys and discovered the so-called “Cantor alloys”. He founded the Begbroke Science Park at Oxford, and the Heslington East Campus at York. He has chaired and been on the board of many organisations, including the National Science Learning Centre, the Science Museums Group, the Marshall Aid Commission, the UK Universities Pensions Forum, the Worldwide Universities Network, and the World Technology Universities Congress. He has received academic prizes, honorary professorships and fellowships in the UK, US, China and India.

Biography

Cantor studied at

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) is a highly Selective school, selective Private_schools_in_the_United_Kingdom, private day school for boys aged 7-18 in Manchester, England, which was founded in 1515 by Hugh Oldham (then Bishop of Exeter). ...

and

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...

. He has worked at universities including

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, York, Washington State and Banaras Hindu University (BHU), and for companies including

Alcan Alcan was a Canadian mining company and aluminum manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 as the Northern Aluminum Company, renamed Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925, and Alcan Aluminum in 1966. It took the name Alcan Incorporated in 2001. During ...

Elsevier Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

and

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

. He has advised organisations such as EPSRC, NASA, the EU and the Dutch, Spanish and German governments. He chaired international review panels for the Institute of Metal Research (IMR), Shenyang, China, the Department of Materials Engineering at the Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc), Bangalore, and the Institute of Innovative Materials, Wollongong University, Australia. He was a member of the Sainsbury review of UK science and innovation. He has chaired and been on the board of many companies and agencies, including the Kobe Institute, the UK Universities Pensions Forum, the

White Rose University Consortium The White Rose University Consortium is a partnership among three universities in Yorkshire, England consisting of the University of Leeds, the University of Sheffield, and the University of York. History It was formed in 1997 to combine the r ...

, Yorkshire Innovation, Leeds, York and Bradford Economic Partnerships, the Chambers of Commerce, the

National Science Learning Centre Science Learning Centres are a UK government initiative to address the need for improved science education and development for teachers in England. Origins In 2001, a House of Lords Science & Technology Select Committee Report identified an urgen ...

, the Centre for Low Carbon Futures, Science City York, the

Worldwide Universities Network The Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) is a non-profit consortium of 24 research-intensive universities founded in 2000. It provides financial and infrastructural support to member universities to support international research collaboration. ...

, the UK College of Business and Computing, The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission and the Science Museum Group. He founded the Begbroke Science Park at Oxford, the National Science Learning Centre, the Hull-York Medical School, and the World Technology Universities Network (WTUN), and led the £1bn Heslington East campus development at York. Cantor was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to higher education.

Research

Cantor's research has investigated the manufacture of materials and has contributed to fundamental scientific advances as well as improvements in many industrial products. He is well known for inventing the field of

high entropy alloys High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are alloys that are formed by mixing equal or relatively large proportions of (usually) five or more elements. Prior to the synthesis of these substances, typical metal alloys comprised one or two major components with ...

, and discovering the so-called "Cantor alloys". He has supervised over 130 research students and postdocs, published over 300 papers and books, given over 100 invited talks in more than 15 countries, received almost 20,000 citations with an h-index of 59, and is on the list of ISI List of Most Cited Researchers. He was awarded the Rosenhain and Platinum Medals of the

Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) is a British engineering institution with activities including promotion of the development of materials science. It has been a registered charity governed by a royal charter and a member ...

. Cantor is an Honorary Professor at Shenyang, Zhejiang and Nanjing Universities, the National Institute of Metals in China and the Indian Institute of Sciences, an Honorary Member of the

Indian Institute of Metals Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) was formed in Kolkata in 1946 under the leadership of Dr. Dara P. Antia, who was then Chief Metallurgist of Hindalco Industries, Indian Aluminum Co. The IIM is over 60 years old premier professional Metallurgical ...

, a Member of

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

, and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

, the

Chartered Management Institute The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is a professional institution for management based in the United Kingdom. It was founded as the British Institute of Management (BIM) in 1947 or 1948, merged with the Institution of Industrial Managers (I ...

and the

. He is a member of the Scientific Council at the

IMDEA IMDEA () is a project founded by the Madrid Regional Government, included in the ''IV Regional Plan of Scientific Research and Technological Innovation 2005-2008 (PRICIT)'', for the purpose of setting up advanced research centers and higher educat ...

Materials Institute in Madrid. In 2024, Cantor was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cantor, Brian 1948 births Living people People educated at Manchester Grammar School Vice-chancellors of the University of York People associated with the University of Bradford Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of Jesus College, Oxford Fellows of St Catherine's College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows of the Institute of Physics Members of Academia Europaea Vice-chancellors of the University of Bradford Fellows of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining Fellows of the Royal Society