Gareth Thomas

Gareth Thomas (9 August 1932 – 6 February 2014) was a Welsh-born materials scientist who spent most of his career at the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL). He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1982

Early life and education Thomas was born in Maesteg, Wales, on 9 August 1932.

Career After early work in industry and consulting, Thomas moved to the United States and joined the University of California, Berkeley, in 1960 as a visiting assistant professor of metallurgy. The National Center for Electron Microscopy at LBL, fully operational in 1983, was a direct result of efforts by Thomas and colleagues including Robert Glaeser and John M. Cowley. In 1976, they proposed a US national facility for advanced electron microscopy. At the heart of the center was a new high-voltage microscope designed to achieve 0.18 nm resolution, as well as some other new instruments. Thomas served as its scientific director until 1991.

In a 1981 study of steel, Thomas and coauthors used atom-probe analysis to examine carbon atom distribution in the steel microstructure.

Thomas's work on steels also led to patented alloy designs. He was the inventor on a United States patent for low-carbon steels designed to combine high strength, toughness, and corrosion resistance.

Thomas's microscopy-based approach extended to magnetic and functional materials. In a 2001 study, Thomas and coauthors investigated the origin of giant magnetoresistance in conventional AlNiCo5 magnets. He also contributed to applications of electron diffraction in biological electron microscopy.

Over his career, he published more than 500 technical papers and held patents related to materials science and engineering. as well as several honorary doctorates and honorary memberships in academic institutions devoted to the study of metals in Japan, Korea, and India.

Thomas' 70th birthday was recognized by his colleagues with special edition of the journal Nano and Microstructural Design of Advanced Materials. The introduction to the issue hailed Thomas' contributions to the key modern approach to advanced materials design, "microstructural design," based on characterizing materials at the atomic level.

Professional service Thomas served as president of the Electron Microscopy Society of America in 1975, and of the International Federation of Societies for Electron Microscopy in 1986. He also served as editor-in-chief of Acta Materialia and Scripta Materialia.