John Pethica

Sir

Education John Pethica was a pupil at St Ambrose College in Hale Barns, Trafford, Manchester. He studied natural sciences (physics) at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduating with a B.A and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge during the late 1970s.

Career Pethica was a scientist employed at Brown, Boveri & Cie in Switzerland from 1980 to 1982. After this he held the position of Fellow at the University of Cambridge from 1983 to 1987. He became a lecturer at The University of Oxford in 1996, subsequently assuming the role of Professor of Materials Science.

In February 2005, it was announced that Pethica will be the director of the Naughton Institute which will house CRANN, a new purpose built nanotechnology centre in Trinity College Dublin.

In October 2007, Pethica was made the Chief Scientific Advisor at the UK's National Physical Laboratory, the UK's National Measurement Institute.

Honours and awards In 1999, Pethica was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). He was elected an honorary fellow of both Trinity College Dublin (in 2011) and St Cross College, Oxford (in 2014).

Pethica was awarded the Rosenhain Medal & Prize from the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in 1997. He was the 2001 recipient of the Hughes Medal of the Royal Society of London,

Pethica was knighted in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to science.

Personal life Pethica is a musician – playing violin and other instruments – with a particular interest in Irish and British folk music.