Malcolm Gavin

Malcolm Gavin was a British physicist, electronics engineer and educational administrator. In 1965, Gavin was appointed the principal of Chelsea College of Science and Technology and was instrumental in converting the college into a federal member of the University of London, before creating the first Professor of Education Science in the United Kingdom. Gavin had been a pioneer of radar systems during World War II, and would later become the chair of the council of the Royal Dental Hospital School of Surgery and president of the Institute of Physics and Physics Society.

Education and early career Gavin was educated at the Hamilton Academy before attending the University of Glasgow, graduating in 1929 in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. After leaving university, Gavin had become a mathematics teacher at Dalziel High School in Motherwell, but joined the M. O. Valve Company, at General Electric Company Research Laboratories at Wembley in 1936, later becoming the Head of the Special Radio Group. At Wembley, he initially worked on high-frequency valves and circuits, but during World War II he helped develop radar search receivers and jamming transmitters, in co-ordination with the Radio Countermeasures (RCM) Board at TRE and the Air Ministry RCM committee. In 1947, Gavin joined the inspectorate of the Scottish Education Department, where he stayed for three years, while he completed a Doctorate in Science at the University of Glasgow. Upon leaving Birmingham, Gavin was appointed the chair of Applied Electricity at the University of North Wales in Bangor, with support from the Nuffield Science Teaching Project, with whom Gavin would be instrumental in the creation of the joint Nuffield Chelsea Curriculum Trust. Gavin retired from the role in September 1973, being replaced by J. E. Ingram from Keele University.

Writing Gavin wrote various papers for journals and book in various subjects:

Triodes for very short waves—oscillators (with J Bell, EG James, GW Warren) – Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers-Part IIIA: Radiolocation 93 (5), 833–846, 1946 Industrial applications of infrared – Nature 162 (4121), 637–637, 1948 Transit time oscillations in triodes (with OH Critchley) – British Journal of Applied Physics 3 (3), 92, 1952 Electricity and Magnetism – Physics Bulletin 8 (8), 260, 1957 Electrode spacing in disc-seal triodes (with W Fulop, LJ Herbst) – Proceedings of the IEE-Part B: Radio and Electronic Engineering 105 (10S), 544–549, 1958 Energy balance in disk seal oscillators at ultra-high frequencies (with LJ Herbst) – British Journal of Applied Physics 9 (9), 377, 1958 Principles of electronics with J.E. Houldin (1 Jan 1959) The Physics of Electricity and Magnetism – Physics Bulletin 10 (12), 311, 1959 Electron Physics – Physics Bulletin 11 (3), 75, 1960 Electronic Fundamentals and Applications – Physics Bulletin 12 (6), 174, 1961 Electronic, Radio, and Microwave Physics – Physics Bulletin 12 (11), 322, 1961 Static Fields In Electricity and Magnetism – Physics Bulletin 13 (3), 87, 1962 Electronics as a Career – Physics Bulletin 13 (7), 211, 1962 Fundamentals of Electronics – Physics Bulletin 13 (12), 131, 1962 A 5-Mc/s Klystron Amplifier using Positive Ions (with K Chandra, LJ Lloyd) – Nature 195 (4845), 988–988, 1962 A Dictionary of Electronics – Physics Bulletin 14 (8), 218, 1963 Microwave Engineering – Physics Bulletin 14 (9), 257, 1963 Introduction to Electromagnetic Fields and Waves – Physics Bulletin 14 (10), 291, 1963 Transistor and semiconductor Teaching – Radio and Electronic Engineer 25 (3), 257–261, 1963 Positive Ion Beams (with K Chandra, LJ Lloyd) – INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ELECTRONICS 14 (2), 121–128, 1963 Electric Filter Circuits – Physics Bulletin 15 (3), 70, 1964 Klystrons with double-gap bunchers (with K Chandra) – INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ELECTRONICS 16 (1), 65–74, 1964 Universities and the community – Physics Bulletin 21 (7), 292, 1970

Public office and committees Between 1960 and 1964, Gavin was a member of the Electronics Research Council of the Ministry of Aviation. Gavin was elected as vice president of the Institute of Physics and Physics Society in 1963, becoming the President between 1968 and 1970. From 1968 to 1973, Gavin was a director of the Fulmer Research Institute. and was a member of the Inter-University Council for Higher Education Overseas. In 1969, Gavin lead a working group on a review of academic staff at the Open University. Between 1968 and 1970 he was a council member for the European Physical Society, and between 1973 and 1974 he was council member for the North Wales Naturalist Trust. In 1966, Gavin was awarded a CBE in the New Year's honour list. Gavin was a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. Gavin died in Elgin on the 4 February 1989.