Professor Tom McLeish

We were deeply saddened to learn in February of the death of Professor Tom McLeish, Senior Associate at Pembroke.

An acclaimed physicist, Tom was Chair in Natural Philosophy at the University of York and co-led the ‘Ordered Universe’ project with Professor Hannah Smithson and other Pembroke academics. He was known to many in College, and is greatly missed by the wider community.

Tom’s distinguished academic career saw him hold positions at multiple institutions, publish well over 200 papers, and lead several interdisciplinary research projects. He is remembered in his field for work which significantly increased understanding of the properties of soft matter, making advances in modelling the structure and properties of complex entangled molecules as well as micro-structures under flow. His scientific accomplishments were recognised by his election as Fellow of the Institute of Physics (2003), of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2008), and ultimately of the Royal Society (2011). He was Chair of the Royal Society’s Education Committee for five years.

Having received his BA, MA and PhD from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Tom was appointed Lecturer in Physics at the University of Sheffield in 1989, before moving to the University of Leeds in 1993 as Professor of Polymer Physics. Fifteen years later he was elected Professor of Physics at the University of Durham, a position he held until 2018. During this time he also served as Director of the Durham Centre for Soft Matter and as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University. His last position was as Chair in Natural Philosophy for the Department of Physics at the University of York.

A great advocate of interdisciplinary research, Tom continually sought to bridge the sciences and humanities, developing a formal affiliation with the University’s Centre for Medieval Studies and Humanities Research while in York. He was also a trustee of the John Templeton Foundation and the Director of the UK Physics of Life Network, a collaboration of physical and life scientists building research across interdisciplinary divisions. It was Tom’s interdisciplinary work that forged his connection with Pembroke: alongside multiple Pembroke academics, he was heavily involved in the Ordered Universe project, an initiative which brings together scientists, engineers, theologians, historians, Latinists and philosophers for an interdisciplinary re-examination of 13th century science.

Central not only to Tom’s commitment to interdisciplinary study, but to so much of his life’s work and his character, was his faith. At once deeply personal and intricately connected to his academic pursuits, his faith was a constant throughout his life. In 1993 he became a lay preacher in the Anglican Church and in 2014 published Faith and Wisdom in Science, exploring the relationship between religion and science. He was later awarded the Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship by the Archbishop of Canterbury ‘for his record as one of the most outstanding scientists of his generation, and the leading contemporary lay Anglican voice in the dialogue of science and faith’.

His faith, his physics and his philosophy worked always in tandem, and drove a life which has shaped not only his field but the many individuals who worked, learned, and lived alongside him.

A service of thanksgiving was held for Professor Tom McLeish in York Minster on 27th April 2023. A recording of the service is available here for 30 days following the event.

Read full obituaries for Tom McLeish from the University of Durham and University of York.