Name David Tabor Role Physicist | Notable students Andrew Briggs | |
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Born October 23, 1913 ( 1913-10-23 ) Institutions University of Cambridge Notable awards Royal Medal (1992)
Fellow of the Royal Society Died November 26, 2005, Cambridge Books The Friction and Lubri, The Hardness of Metals, Gases - Liquids and Solids, Friction: An Introduction to Tribolo | ||
Institution University of Cambridge | ||
David Tabor, FRS (23 October 1913 – 26 November 2005) was a British physicist who was an early pioneer of tribology, the study of frictional interaction between surfaces.
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Academic career
In 1957, Tabor was elected a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. In 1964, the University of Cambridge appointed him Reader in Physics. From 1969 to 1981, he served as Head of Physics and Chemistry of Solids at the Cavendish Laboratory. In 1973, he was promoted to Professor of Physics. He was made Professor Emeritus when he retired in 1981.
Honours
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1963. In 1968 he was awarded the A. A. Griffith Medal and Prize. He was the first recipient of the Tribology Gold Medal, awarded by the Tribology Trust, which is administered by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1972. He also received the Guthrie Medal of the Institute of Physics, 1975 and the Royal Society's Royal Medal, one of their three highest awards, 1992.