Dr Martin Seah

Dr Martin Seah MBE was an Emeritus Senior Fellow in Surface and Nanoanalysis and part of the Surface and Nanoanalysis Research team. His research in to X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) has been the basis of the UK becoming a world leader in XPS instrumentation.

He joined NPL in 1969 to work on interfacial chemistry and its effects in metals. In 1980 he became head of a team to establish the measurement infrastructure in surface and nanoanalysis. This work covered Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), G-SIMS and atomic force microscopy (AFM). He pioneered metrology for surface chemical analysis establishing international standards and the global equivalence of measurements. He published over 350 scientific papers as well as editing, with Professor David Briggs, the well-known ‘Practical Surface Analysis’ volumes. In 2002, a special issue of the journal Surface Interface Analysis celebrated his 60^th birthday. Twenty years later, another special issue paid tribute with reminiscences and research articles from his friends and colleagues around the world.

He made major contributions to the scientific community and in recognition he was awarded the 1978 Henry Marion Howe Medal of the American Society for Metals, the 1989 Albert Nerken Award of the American Vacuum Society, the 1995 British Vacuum Council Medal and Prize, the 1996 Institute of Physics Duddell Medal and Prize, and the 2004 International Union for Vacuum Science, Technique and Applications Prize in Technology. In 2018 he was also awarded an MBE for services to science and industry. Dr Seah was a truly inspirational scientist and during his extraordinary career he left a huge impact on the scientific community with major developments in his field as well as on colleagues who worked alongside him.  

Professor Ian Gilmore, Head of Science at NPL, pays tribute to Martin and celebrates his many scientific achievements. Watch it here.