Professor Jeremy J Baumberg appointed Harold Aspden Professor of Fundamental Physics

Director of the Nanophotonics Centre, Professor Jeremy J Baumberg FRS, FRSC has been appointed the Harold Aspden Professor.

This new professorship is named after Dr Harold Aspden (Trinity 1950) - IBM’s Director of Patent Operations in Europe and a dedicated scientist who passed away in 2011.  After his death, his wife Wendy had made provision in her will for the establishment of a new professorship in the Cavendish Laboratory  and as a result, the £2.5 million legacy gift she left established the Aspden Professorship of Fundamental Physics in her husband’s memory.

Breakthrough discoveries – ones that change the way we think about the world, require blue sky scientific innovations. This often requires time and a commitment to the long-term with an eye on the future. The Harold Aspden Professorship of Fundamental Physics has been established to support this vision which will now be led by the new Apsden chair - Professor Jeremy Baumberg.

Baumberg is a leader in nanoscience and nanotechnology, having worked for much of his career at the interface between academia and industry. He has led interdisciplinary nano-centres at the Universities of Cambridge and Southampton and developed novel devices within Hitachi, IBM and his spin-offs Mesophotonics and Base4.

“I am truly honoured by such a prestigious appointment. With this Professorship comes a responsibility to lead the vision for what will become the new physics in the years ahead,” enthused Professor Baumberg. Baumberg is interested in constructing nanomaterials with unusual interactions with light, especially ones that can be fabricated on a large scale which should lead to their practical use. In the past, he has developed a range of unusual nanophotonic systems including kilometre-scale polymer opals and is exploring what happens when we confine light to the diameter of atoms, which in turn can help him probe single molecules and reactions. One of his current projects is the ‘Intelligent toilet’ where he and his team aim to advance the area of precision health-care. Through this project, they are looking at how light interacts with trace analyte molecules that control our bodies, such as dopamine. The idea is to build new sensors to find out about our health through chemical information, and whether we need medical intervention. This area of low-cost personalised medicine or precision health care aims to provide a breakthrough in the way we look after people across our society in the future.

“We are delighted by the appointment of Professor Baumberg as the Aspden Chair”, said Professor Andy Parker, head of the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. “As an outstanding scientist, he will no doubt carve a new path towards blue sky scientific innovation, fulfilling Wendy Aspden’s vision for the Harold Aspden Professorship of Fundamental Physics.”

Aspden was a prolific and dedicated scientist, author of many books, publications and research papers. An archive of his documents is now hosted at the Cavendish Laboratory and the University Library.