Dr Alan Webb – Winner of the Harry Leck Memorial Medal 2019
The winner of the 2019 Harry Leck Memorial Medal is Dr Alan Webb, Consultant. Presentation of the Medal will be made in the Exhibition Hall at 4:30pm on Wednesday 9th October 2019.
Having started, and ended, his career in academia, in between Alan spent nearly 30 years in industry at Caswell involved in high technology process improvement under vacuum conditions. Alan developed a wealth of knowledge, and built a reputation as the “goto” person for resolution of the challenges faced in the area of plasmas. This significant contribution and understanding of business in plasma chemistry, plasma physics and thin films, cuts across the boundaries and marks out Dr Alan Webb as a worthy winner of the Harry Leck Memorial Medal.
In 1971, Alan was awarded a B.Sc. in physics from the University of East Anglia. He then went on to gain a D.Phil from the University of Sussex studying refractive index changes produced in silica by ion implantation. Research positions followed at the Universities of Zurich, Strathclyde and Glasgow before being appointed as a Senior Principal Scientist at Plessey Research, Caswell in 1984.
Throughout the many changes of ownership at the Allen Clark Research Centre, Caswell – Plessey, GEC Marconi, GEC Marconi Materials Technology, Marconi Optical Components, Bookham, Oclaro – Alan was promoted to Optoelectronics Process Manager, reporting to the Production Manager.
After retiring from Oclaro in 2011 Alan joined the Open University for 2 x 2 years tenure. Nowadays he is a Consultant and still finds time for active involvement with the Institute of Physics and British Vacuum Council. Elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Physics in 1995, Alan is currently a member of both IPSI and Vacuum Groups. In the same year he was a pivotal member of the initial organising group that initiated the 1st Plasma Ion and Surface Engineering (PISE-UK) Committee in the UK. It transformed from the PISE international workshops into the national Technological Plasma Workshop (TPW) that now meet at Vacuum Symposium. Alan was Chairman of the British Vacuum Council from 2008 to 2010, and continues to be co-opted on the committee where his continuity and experience are a valuable asset.
