David Tabor

David Tabor (né Tabrisky), FRS (23 October 1913 – 26 November 2005)[1] was a British physicist who was an early pioneer of tribology, the study of frictional interaction between surfaces, and well known for his influential undergraduate textbook "Gases, Liquids and Solids".

For the British general, see David Tabor (British Army officer).
David Tabor
Born(1913-10-23)23 October 1913
London, England
Died26 November 2005(2005-11-26) (aged 92)
Cambridge, England
Alma materImperial College London
University of Cambridge (Ph.D, 1939)
Known forKey figure in the birth of Tribology
Spouse(s)Hannalene Stillschweig
AwardsTribology Gold Medal (1972)
Guthrie Medal (1975)
Royal Medal (1992)
Fellow of the Royal Society
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
InstitutionsUniversity of Cambridge

Early life and education

David Tabrisky was the sixth of seven children of Russian Jewish parents Charles (born "Ezekiel") Tabrisky and Rebecca (née Weinstein), who had emigrated to the United Kingdom and lived at Notting Hill Gate. His father had been a non-commissioned officer in, and armourer to, the Russian Imperial Army, and had run a business as a gunsmith and metalworker. On coming to England, he established a small metalworking business specialising in customised fittings and designs. Charles Tabrisky changed the family's surname to "Tabor" in the early 1920s. Tabor was educated at the Portobello Road Primary School, Regent Street Polytechnic Secondary School, and Imperial College London (to which he won a scholarship), then went to Cambridge to undertake research in the Department of Chemistry.[2][3][4]

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.[5]

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.[6]

The David Tabor Medal and Prize was named in his honour.[7]

Personal Life

In 1943, Tabor married Hanna Stillschweig, who survived him with their two sons.[8]

References
  1. Field, J. (2008). "David Tabor. 23 October 1913 -- 26 November 2005". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 54: 425–459. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2007.0031.
  2. National Academy of Engineering of the United States of America- Memorial Tributes, vol. 12, National Academies Press, 2008, p. 299
  3. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1507581/Prof-David-Tabor.html
  4. Biographical Memoirs of the Fellows of the Royal Society, vol. 54, pp. 425-429, "David Tabor, 23 October 1913- 26 November 2005", John Field, 2008 URL= https://www.smf.phy.cam.ac.uk/files/574FrictFieldBMFRS54.pdf
  5. 'TABOR, Prof. David', Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 accessed 21 May 2017
  6. Field, John (May 2006). "Obituary: David Tabor". Physics Today. 59 (5): 72–73. Bibcode:2006PhT....59e..72F. doi:10.1063/1.2216974.
  7. "David Tabor Medal and Prize". Institute of Physics. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  8. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1507581/Prof-David-Tabor.html
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