Brian Cantor CBE

FREng Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and Scholarship, fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK a ...

(born 11 January 1948) is long serving university leader, a Visiting Professor in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford and a Research Professor at the Brunel Centre for Advanced Solidification Technology (BCAST) at Brunel University. Prior to this he was

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

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 Vice-Chancellor at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for post-nominals) is a collegiate research university, located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, co ...

from 2002 to 2013, and prior to this he was 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 senior ...

.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, USA, China and India.

Biography

Cantor studied at

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a Grammar school#free tuition, free grammar school next to Manchester C ...

and

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

. He has worked at universities including

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, 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 t ...

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

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...

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 ...

, Yorkshire Innovation, Leeds, York and Bradford Economic Partnerships, the Chambers of Commerce, the National Science Learning Centre, the Centre for Low Carbon Futures, Science City York, the Worldwide Universities Network, the UK College of Business and Computing, The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission and the Science Museum Group. He founded the

Begbroke Science Park Begbroke Science Park is a science park located five miles north of Oxford, England. It is owned by Oxford University and managed as part of the university's Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division It lies within the parish of Begb ...

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 contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(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, 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 over 16,000 citations with an h-index over 50, 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 UK engineering institution whose activities encompass the whole materials cycle, from exploration and extraction, through characterisation, processing, forming, finishing and applicatio ...

. 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 Indian Aluminum Co. The IIM is over 60 years old premier professional Metallurgical Institute set up to ...

, 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 Europea ...

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

, the

Chartered Management Institute The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is a professional institution for management based in the United Kingdom. The major membership classes are ''Member'', ''Fellow'' - for those with significant expertise - and ''Companion'' - the most sen ...

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.

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