Professor Bryan Coles dies aged 71

Bryan Randell Coles FRS, Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Fellow of Solid State Physics from 1991 died suddenly on Monday at 2 am. Born in Cardiff in 1926, Bryan Coles attended Cardiff High School and achieved a first in Metallurgy from the University of Wales in 1947. He came to the Department of Physics at Imperial in 1950 as a lecturer in Metal Physics and a year later gained his D.Phil. from Jesus College, Oxford.

On leave from London in Pittsburgh, Professor Coles was the International Co-operation Administration Fellow at the Carnegie Institute for two years from 1954. Three years later, he was appointed Senior Lecturer in Physics at Imperial and then a Reader in Physics in 1962. Professor Coles spent the summers of 1962 and 1969 as a Visiting Professor at the University of California in San Diego. In October of 1966 he was appointed to the Chair of Solid State Physics at Imperial. Closely associated with both the planning and furnishing of the new Physics building, the Blackett Laboratory, Professor Coles took a keen interest in the development of the College. Before being appointed Dean of the Royal College of Science from 1984-1986, he spent the end of 1983 as Hill Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota. From 1986-1991, Professor Coles was Pro-Rector of Imperial College and was then elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society, where he Chaired the Scientific Information Committee from 1993.

As Nevill Mott has said, Professor Coles had devoted his career to the experimental investigation of metallic alloys and their interpretation in the language of quantum mechanics. Not only this, but also his work in the field of spin glasses has resulted in world-wide renown. Professor Coles provided inspired leadership in all his work and warm hospitality to the many eminent people who visited him, and to the students taught by him over his years at Imperial. His inaugural lecture was received with praise and showed his facility with language, an ability founded on his sense of humour and considerable knowledge of English Literature.

Professor Coles was a member, and frequently chairman, of many international committees, including the International Institute Laue-Langevin, the International Council of Scientific Unions Abstracting Board and was IUPAP representative for several years. He served on the Advisory Panel on Study Institutions, NATO Science Division, and was a member of the British National Committee on Physics. During 1955, Professor Coles married Merivan Robinson of St. Paul, Minnesota and leaves two sons. In his private life, Professor Coles pursued interests in natural history, mediaeval architecture and opera. Having retired at the beginning of the academic term 1991, he continued to take an active interest in both his work and the College itself, being Staff Orator from 1991-1993. His death is a considerable loss to both the College and the scientific world, and he will be sorely missed by all who knew him