David Gilbert Thomas (4 August 1928, London, England – 9 May 2015,

Torrington, Connecticut Torrington is the most populated municipality and only city in Litchfield County, Connecticut and the Northwest Hills region. It is also the core city of Greater Torrington, one of the largest micropolitan areas in the United States. The city p ...

) was a chemist and solid-state physicist, known for his work at

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial Research and development, research and scientific developm ...

on the optical properties of semiconductors.

Education and career

Thomas was educated at Harrow School and at

The Putney School The Putney School is an independent high school in Putney, Vermont. The school was founded in 1935 by Carmelita Hinton on the principles of the Progressive Education movement and the teachings of its principal exponent, John Dewey. It is a co-e ...

in Vermont, before he matriculated at Oxford University, where received his three chemistry degrees: studying firstly at

Oriel College Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, w ...

for his BA (awarded 1949) and MA (awarded 1950); then at Merton College for his DPhil, awarded in 1952. From 1952 to 1954 he was a researcher for the Royal Military College in Kingston, Canada, and then in 1954 joined Bell Laboratories, where he worked for 38 years. In 1960 he became a U.S. citizen. In 1969 he received, for joint research with

John Hopfield John Joseph Hopfield (born July 15, 1933) is an American scientist most widely known for his invention of an associative neural network in 1982. It is now more commonly known as the Hopfield network. Biography Hopfield was born in 1933 to Po ...

, the

Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize The Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize is an annual award given by the American Physical Society "to recognize and encourage outstanding theoretical or experimental contributions to condensed matter physics." It was endowed by AT&T Bell Lab ...

of the American Physical Society.

Family

Thomas's wife, June, whom he married in 1957, died in January 2015. He was survived by his daughters Virginia S. Thomas and Victoria C. Thomas, as well as, granddaughters Eliza K. Lupone and Madeline J. Lupone.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, David Gilbert 1928 births 2015 deaths People educated at Harrow School Alumni of the University of Oxford British emigrants to the United States Scientists at Bell Labs Fellows of the American Physical Society Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize winners Alumni of Merton College, Oxford