Sir Ian Trevelyan Chapman FRS is a British physicist who is the chief executive of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).

Education

Chapman went to school at

Elizabeth College, Guernsey The Royal College of Elizabeth, better known as Elizabeth College, is a co-educational independent school in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey. One of the earliest members of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), it is a public school ...

. He graduated from

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

(

Hild Bede College Hild or Hildr may refer to: * Hildr or Hild is one of the Valkyries in Norse mythology, a personification of battle * Hild or Hilda of Whitby is a Christian saint who was a British abbess and nun in the Middle Ages * Hild (Oh My Goddess!), the ult ...

) with an M.Sci. in Mathematics and Physics in 2004. Chapman then joined UKAEA's

Culham laboratory The Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) is the UK's national laboratory for fusion research. It is located at the Culham Science Centre, near Culham, Oxfordshire, and is the site of the Joint European Torus (JET), Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak ...

as a plasma physics PhD student with

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

. His research focused on understanding and controlling instabilities in the plasma fuel within

tokamak A tokamak (; russian: токамáк; otk, 𐱃𐰸𐰢𐰴, Toḳamaḳ) is a device which uses a powerful magnetic field to confine plasma in the shape of a torus. The tokamak is one of several types of magnetic confinement devices being d ...

fusion devices. He received his PhD in 2008.

Career

Chapman continued his plasma physics research at Culham and progressed through a number of positions in the UK fusion programme, including Head of Tokamak Science in 2014 and Fusion Programme Manager in 2015. In October 2016 he became UKAEA's Chief Executive Officer, succeeding

Sir Steven Cowley Sir Steven Charles Cowley (born 1959) is a British theoretical physicist and international authority on nuclear fusion and Plasma physics, astrophysical plasmas. He has served as director of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Princeto ...

. He has published over 110 journal papers and given 30 invited lead-author presentations at international conferences. In 2015, he became a visiting professor at Durham University.

International roles

Chapman has held a number of international roles in fusion research. He was a Task Force Leader for the

Joint European Torus The Joint European Torus, or JET, is an operational magnetically confined plasma physics experiment, located at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire, UK. Based on a tokamak design, the fusion research facility is a joint European pro ...

fusion device from 2012 to 2014. He was appointed a member of the programme advisory committee for US experiment

NSTX-U The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) is a magnetic fusion device based on the ''spherical tokamak'' concept. It was constructed by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) in collaboration with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ...

in 2013. He has chaired international working groups for the international fusion project

ITER ITER (initially the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ''iter'' meaning "the way" or "the path" in Latin) is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject aimed at creating energy by replicating, on Earth ...

and led work packages within the EU fusion programme.

Awards and honours

Chapman's research has been recognised with a number of notable awards, including: * SET For Britain Best Early Career Physicist (2011) * International Union of Pure and Applied Physics Young Scientist Prize (2012) * Fellowship of Institute of Physics (2013) * Institute of Physics

Clifford Paterson Medal and Prize The Clifford Paterson Medal and Prize is awarded by the Institute of Physics. It was established in 1981 and named after Clifford Copland Paterson. The prize is awarded each year for exceptional early career contributions to the application of ...

(2013) * European Physical Society Early Career Prize (2014) * Fellow 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 senior ...

(2022) *

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

(2023) Chapman was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the

2023 New Year Honours The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebration ...

for services to global fusion energy.

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British chief executives Academics of Durham University Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows of the Royal Society Knights Bachelor British physicists People educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey Alumni of the College of St Hild and St Bede, Durham {{UK-business-bio-stub