Professor David J. Bacon

David Bacon is Professor of Materials Science in the Department of Engineering at the University of Liverpool. He obtained a BSc in Physics (1962), a PhD in Metal Physics (1965) and a DSc in Materials Science (1984) from the University of London. He held a two-year research position at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell (1965-67) before being appointed to the academic staff in the (then) Department of Metallurgy at Liverpool in 1967. He was appointed Professor in 1987 and has served the University as Head of Department (twice) and Dean of Engineering (twice).

His research has focused on the study of defects in metals, particularly in relation to mechanical properties and phenomena associated with radiation damage. His early research involved theoretical analysis of dislocations in isotropic and anisotropic media, culminating in the monograph 'Anisotropic Continuum Theory of Lattice Defects', published with Barnett and Scattergood as an issue of Progress in Materials Science in 1978. For over 30 years he has made extensive use of atomic-scale computer simulation to investigate the defects that form in irradiated metals, the properties of these defects, and the mechanisms by which their interactions with dislocations influence material properties. He has been awarded 57 research grants, has published 280 research papers and is co-author with Hull of the text book ‘Introduction to Dislocations’.

He was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2008. He is a Fellow of the Institue of Physics and of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, and was awarded the AA Griffith Medal and Prize by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in 2005 in recognition of his research in materials science.

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