Sarah Thompson

Sarah Madeleine Thompson MBE is a British physicist. Thompson is associate dean (research) for the Faculty of Science at the University of York. She was head of the Department of Physics at the University of York from 2011 to 2017. She is a fellow of the Institute of Physics and she was Vice President of Institute of Physics (science and innovation) until 2019.

Her research primarily focuses on thin film magnetic materials and nano-thermal imaging. She won an award from the Institute of Physics for the Public Awareness of Physics.

Education Thompson completed her Ph.D. in 1991 at Durham University with a thesis entitled The magnetic properties of plastically deformed steels.

Career and research Thompson works on magnetic thin films and spintronics at the University of York. By working on the nanoscale, it is possible to manipulate the electron, which is the ultimate nano-magnet, and thereby design new functional magnetic materials with practical uses and to explore the underpinning physics.

She participates in initiatives to increase representation of women and minorities in physics. She was a speaker at CUWiP UK in 2017 at Oxford, Under her direction as Head, the Department of Physics at York received an Athena Swan Charter Silver award in 2012 in recognition of their support for women in science.

Thompson is very involved in science communication and outreach. She gave a Kelvin Lecture in 1998 on Designer Magnetic Materials and has exhibited at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition.

Awards and honours Thompson was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 2012 for services to Higher Education.