Ian Ward (physicist)

In 2013, the Department of Materials of ETH Zurich awarded him the Staudinger–Durrer Prize in recognition of his pioneering contributions to the field of mechanical properties of solid polymers and polymer-based composites.

Ward received awards from the Institute of Physics: Charles Vernon Boys Medal (1993), Glazebrook Medal (2004) – and the Institute of Materials: Griffith Medal (1982), Swinburne Medal (1988) and the Netlon Award (2004). In 1993, he received a honorary doctorate from the University of Bradford.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1983. His certificate of election reads: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}

Ward joined the Fibres division of the Imperial Chemical Industries as Technical Officer in 1954. Following a secondment to the Division of Applied Mathematics of Brown University (1961–1962), he became the Head of the Basic Physics Section at the company. In 1965, he joined the University of Leeds as a Lecturer in Physics of Materials, becoming a Professor of Physics in 1970 and Cavendish Professor in 1989, before retiring in 1994. He chaired the Department of Physics at Leeds from 1975 until 1978 and from 1987 until 1989. He served as the president of the British Society of Rheology from 1984 until 1986. In 1989, he became the first Director of the Polymer Interdisciplinary Research Centre, holding the position until 1994. Ward was also a visiting Professor at the University of Bradford.

Ian Macmillan Ward FRS FInstP (9 April 1928 – 5 November 2018) was a British physicist specialising in polymer science. He was Cavendish Professor of Physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leeds where he was also chairman of the School of Physics and Astronomy and first Director of the Polymer Interdisciplinary Research Centre.