David Christopher Watts

David Christopher Watts (born 7 April 1945) is a British biophysicist, material scientist, and academic. He is a professor of Biomaterials Science at the University of Manchester, and a Biomaterials Consultant at BIOMAN Materials Consultants.

Watts has received recognition for his work on dielectric spectroscopy and molecular relaxation processes, as well as for his current work on the interdisciplinary science of oral biomaterials, particularly the understanding of photo-polymerised composite materials. He is the co-discoverer of the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts [KWW] stretched-exponential function for modelling molecular-relaxation processes in condensed media, and has been awarded numerous awards for his research work in the field.

Early life and education Watts was born on 7 April 1945, in Manchester. After completing his early education at Cheadle Hulme School, he enrolled at the University of Wales and graduated with majors in Physics and Chemistry in 1967. From 1967 until 1970, he undertook research in polymer science for a Ph.D. at the University of Wales, under the supervision of Graham Williams. His dissertation was titled The dielectric behavior of polymers. Between 1978 and 1983, Watts completed biblical language and literature courses at the University of Manchester.

Watts has served as a UK Principal Expert to International Standards Organization Technical Committee 106 (Dentistry), on ceramics, composite materials, adhesion and photo-polymerization from 1986 to 2011. His research focus includes dielectric spectroscopy and molecular relaxation processes. With collaboration of international biomaterials companies, he works extensively on photo-polymerisation, the setting mechanisms of dental and orthopaedic biomaterials, the kinetics of these processes, biomimetic-composites and biomaterial interactions with hard tissues along with development of specialist research instrumentation for biomaterials.

Polymer physics Watts's work on the discovery of the Williams-Watts [or KWW] "stretched exponential" relaxation function for condensed media, was first used in 19th century to describe charge decay in the Leyden jar and creep in fibres. This work has been identified by Graham Williams and Watts in the dielectric behavior of solid polymers and mathematically re-expressed by Fourier transformation in forms appropriate to the analysis of both time and frequency domain measurements. Their invention also contributes to Theory of the Glass transition.

In the 1970s, Williams and Watts published non-symmetrical dielectric relaxation behaviour resulting from a simple empirical decay function. A fine agreement was established between empirical representation and the resulting experimental curves for the α relaxation in polyethyl acrylate, and highlighted that this representation would have a general application to the α relaxations in other polymers. Later on, he conducted a study to explore the differences between initial and final fracture failure loads of metal-free crown systems by the conjoint detection of acoustic emission signals during compressive loading. Having discussed these differences, he provided a general overview of the bond-disruptive stresses, concerning resin composite formulations, origins of stress, and clinical consequences of stress development. He also characterised the Young's moduli (E) of a series of model dental resin-composites using nanoindentation, and examined how E was influenced by differences in filler-size and shape. He also focused his study on exploring the impact of light intensity on resin-composite degree of conversion and shrinkage strain. It was indicated that correlation between DC and shrinkage strain values means that some reductions in the problems of shrinkage may be achieved by an acceptable reduction in DC. While using Vickers hardness profiles (VHN), he determined post-cure depth of cure of bulk fill resin composites and highlighted that these bulk fill resin composites can be cured to an acceptable post-cure depth.

Awards and honors 2002 - Doctor of Science (h.c.) University of Athens 2003 - Distinguished Scientist Award, International Association for Dental Research 2010 - Humboldt Research Prize, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation 2011 - President's Prize, UK Society for Biomaterials 2017 - Alan D. Wilson Memorial Lecture Award, UK Society for Biomaterials 2017 - Founders’ Award, Academy of Dental Materials

Personal life Watts is a practicing Christian, which is his motivation for participation in both the scientific enterprise and the theology of science. He has a Free Church background but currently is a member of the Anglican Church within which he has led a parish and diocesan project on Scientists in Congregations (2016–17) to promote constructive engagement between Christians and scientists. He is an active mountaineer and alpinist, as an elected member of the Alpine Club, and the Swiss Alpine Club.