The President of the Institute of Physics is the head of the governing Council of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physica ...

. The history of the Institute, from its founding as the

Physical Society of London The Physical Society of London, England, was a scientific society which was founded in 1874. In 1921, it was renamed the Physical Society, and in 1960 it merged with the Institute of Physics (IOP), the combined organisation eventually adopting the ...

in 1874 through to today's Institute has meant that the name of the post held has varied. The current President is Jonathan Flint.

Presidents of the Physical Society of London

*1874–1876 John H Gladstone *1876–1878 George C Foster *1878–1880 William G Adams *1880–1882 The Lord Kelvin of Largs *1882–1884 Robert B Clifton *1884–1886

Frederick Guthrie Frederick Guthrie FRS FRSE (15 October 1833 – 21 October 1886) was a British physicist and chemist and academic author. He was the son of Alexander Guthrie, a London tradesman, and the younger brother of mathematician Francis Guthrie. Alon ...

*1886–1888 Balfour Stewart *1888–1890 Arnold W Reinold *1890–1892 William E Ayrton *1892–1893 George F Fitzgerald *1893–1895 Arthur W Rucker *1895–1897 William de W Abney *1897–1899

Shelford Bidwell Shelford Bidwell FRS (6 March 1848 – 18 December 1909) was an English physicist and inventor. He is best known for his work with "telephotography", a precursor to the modern fax machine. Private life He was born in Thetford, Norfolk the eldes ...

*1899–1901 Oliver J Lodge *1901–1903

Silvanus P Thompson Silvanus Phillips Thompson (19 June 1851 – 12 June 1916) was a professor of physics at the City and Guilds Technical College in Finsbury, England. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1891 and was known for his work as an electrical eng ...

*1903–1905 Richard T Glazebrook *1905–1906 John H Poynting *1906–1908 John Perry *1908–1910 Charles Chree *1910–1912 Hugh Longbourne Callendar *1912–1914 Arthur Schuster *1914–1916 Sir Joseph J. Thomson *1916–1918 Charles V Boys *1918–1920

Charles Herbert Lees Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

Presidents of the Physical Society

*1920–1922

Sir William Bragg Sir William Henry Bragg (2 July 1862 – 12 March 1942) was an English physicist, chemist, mathematician, and active sportsman who uniquelyThis is still a unique accomplishment, because no other parent-child combination has yet shared a Nobel ...

*1922–1924 Alexander Russell *1924–1926 F E Smith *1926–1928 O W Richardson *1928–1930 W H Eccles *1930–1932 Sir Arthur Eddington *1932–1934 A O Rankine *1934–1936

Lord Rayleigh John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, (; 12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919) was an English mathematician and physicist who made extensive contributions to science. He spent all of his academic career at the University of Cambridge. Amo ...

*1936–1938 T Smith *1938–1941 Sir Allan Ferguson *1941–1943

Sir Charles Darwin Sir Charles Galton Darwin (19 December 1887 – 31 December 1962) was an English physicist who served as director of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) during the Second World War. He was a son of the mathematician George Howard Darwin an ...

*1943–1945 E N de Costa Andrade *1945–1947 D Brunt *1947–1949 G I Finch *1949–1950 S Chapman *1950–1952 L F Bates *1952–1954 R Whiddington *1954–1956 H S W Massey *1956–1958 N F Mott *1958–1960 J A Ratcliffe

Presidents of the Institute of Physics

*1919–1921 Sir Richard T Glazebrook *1921–1923 Sir Joseph Thomson *1923–1925

Sir Charles Parsons Sir Charles Algernon Parsons, (13 June 1854 – 11 February 1931) was an Anglo-Irish engineer, best known for his invention of the compound steam turbine, and as the eponym of C. A. Parsons and Company. He worked as an engineer on dy ...

*1925–1927

*1927–1929

Sir Frank Dyson Sir Frank Watson Dyson, KBE, FRS, FRSE (8 January 1868 – 25 May 1939) was an English astronomer and the ninth Astronomer Royal who is remembered today largely for introducing time signals ("pips") from Greenwich, England, and for the role ...

*1929–1931 William H Eccles *1931–1933 The Lord Rutherford of Nelson *1933–1935

Sir Henry Lyons Colonel Sir Henry George Lyons FRS (11 October 1864 – 10 August 1944) was a British geologist and director of the Science Museum in London. Henry Lyons was born in London, the son of General Thomas Lyons. Lyons was educated at Wellingto ...

*1935–1937

Alfred Fowler Alfred Fowler, CBE FRS (22 March 1868, in Yorkshire – 24 June 1940) was an English astronomer. Early life and career He was born in Wilsden on the outskirts of Bradford, Yorkshire and educated at London's Normal School of Science, wh ...

*1937–1939 Clifford C Paterson *1939–1943 Sir Lawrence Bragg *1943–1946 Sir Frank Smith *1946–1948 Arthur M Tyndall *1948–1950 Francis C Toy *1950–1952 William E Curtis *1952–1954 Charles Sykes *1954–1956 Sir John Cockroft *1956–1958 Oliver W Humphreys *1958–1960 Sir George Thomson

Presidents of the Institute of Physics and the Physical Society

*1960–1962 Sir John Cockroft *1962–1964 Sir Alan Herries Wilson *1964–1966 Sir Gordon Sutherland *1966–1968 Sir James Taylor *1968–1970 Malcolm R Gavin

Presidents of the Institute of Physics

*1970–1972 James W Menter *1972–1974 Sir Brian Flowers *1974–1976 Sir Brian Pippard *1976–1978 Basil J Mason *1978–1980 Rendel S Pease *1980–1982 Sir Denys Wilkinson *1982–1984 Sir Robert Clayton *1984–1986 Sir Alec Merrison *1986–1988 Godfrey H Stafford *1988–1990

Cyril Hilsum Cyril Hilsum (born 17 May 1925) is a British physicist and academic. Hilsum was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1983 for the inventiveness and leadership in introducing III-V semiconductors into electronic technology ...

*1990–1992 Roger Blin-Stoyle *1992–1994 Clive A. P. Foxell *1994–1996 Sir Arnold Wolfendale *1996–1998 Brian Manley *1998–2000

Sir Gareth Roberts Sir Gareth Gwyn Roberts (16 May 1940 – 6 February 2007) was a Welsh physicist specialising in semiconductors and molecular electronics, who was influential in British science policy through his chairmanship of several academic bodies and his ...

*2000–2002 Sir Peter Williams *2002–2004 Sir David Wallace *2004–2006 Sir John Enderby *2006–2008 Peter Saraga *2008–2010

Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell (; Bell; born 15 July 1943) is an astrophysicist from Northern Ireland who, as a postgraduate student, discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967. The discovery eventually earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in ...

*2010–2011

Marshall Stoneham Arthur Marshall Stoneham, FRS (18 May 1940 – 18 February 2011), known as Marshall Stoneham, was a British physicist who worked for the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, and from 1995 was Massey professor of physics at University College ...

*2011–2011

(Interim) *2011–2013 Sir Peter Knight *2013–2015 Frances Saunders *2015–2017 Roy Sambles *2017–2019 Dame Julia Higgins *2019–2021 Jonathan Flint *2021-Present

Sheila Rowan Sheila Anne "Stretch" Rowan (April 22, 1940 – August 2, 2014) was a Canadian curler from Saskatoon. Rowan was born in Young, Saskatchewan where she grew up before moving to Plenty, Saskatchewan in 1953 and Saskatoon in 1955 where she graduate ...

Cite web , url=https://www.iop.org/about/news/new-iop-council-members-take-up-posts , title=New IOP council, Sheila Rowan , date=2021-10-01 , access-date=2021-10-09

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Presidents of the Institute of Physics Institute of Physics Lists of British people Presidents of the Institute of Physics