Sir Christopher Hubert Llewellyn Smith (born 19 November 1942) is an

Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford.

Education

Llewellyn Smith was educated at the University of Oxford (BA) and completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree in theoretical physics at

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

in 1967.

Career and research

After his DPhil he worked at the Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow,

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

and then the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory before returning to Oxford in 1974. Llewellyn Smith was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1984. While Chairman of Oxford Physics (1987–92), he led the merger of five different departments into a single Physics Department. Smith was Director General of

from 1994 to 1998. Thereafter he served as Provost and President of University College London (1999–2002).

Awards and honours

Llewellyn Smith received the

James Clerk Maxwell Medal and Prize The Institute of Physics awards numerous prizes to acknowledge contributions to physics research, education and applications. It also offers smaller specific subject-group prizes, such as for PhD thesis submissions. Bilateral awards * The Max B ...

in 1979, and

Glazebrook Medal and Prize The Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize is awarded annually by the Institute of Physics to recognise leadership in the field of physics. It was established in 1966 and named in honour of Sir Richard T. Glazebrook, the first president of the Insti ...

of the Institute of Physics in 1999 and 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 2001. In 2004, he became Chairman of the Consultative Committee for Euratom on Fusion (CCE-FU). Until 2009 he was Director of UKAEA Culham Division, which holds the responsibility for the United Kingdom's fusion programme and operation of the Joint European Torus (JET). He is a member of the Advisory Council for the

Campaign for Science and Engineering The Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) is a non-profit organisation that is the UK's leading independent advocate for science and engineering. It focuses on arguing for more research funding, promoting a high-tech and knowledge-based e ...

. In 2013, he joined the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar, India as a Distinguished Professor. In 2015, he was awarded the

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important ...

of the Royal Society.

Personal life

Llewellyn Smith married in 1966 and has one son and one daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Llewellyn Smith, Christopher 1942 births Living people Alumni of New College, Oxford British nuclear physicists English physicists People associated with CERN Experimental particle physics Experimental physicists Academics of University College London Fellows of New College, Oxford Fellows of St John's College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Society Foreign Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy International Centre for Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science Applications in the Middle East people Knights Bachelor Maxwell Medal and Prize recipients Particle physicists Provosts of University College London Department of Physics, University of Oxford