Silvanus Thompson Medal 2013

Dr Edwin Aird, winner of the 2013 Silvanus Thompson Medal, delivered the Silvanus Thompson memorial lecture entitled “The impact of quality control on clinical trials” at UKRO on 22 October 2013.

Dr Aird was Director of Medical Physics at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre until his recent retirement. He has written a plethora of published manuscripts, book chapters and lectures. His clinical career started at the Newcastle General Hospital in 1967 following his academic training at Newcastle University (Physics BSc; MSc and PhD). He left to become Head of Radiotherapy Physics at Barts in 1985 and then moved to the position of Head of Medical Physics in 1988.

The award was presented to Dr Aird by Andy Beavis, BIR Chair of the Radiotherapy Physics special interest group and Vice Chair of UKRO (pictured). On receiving the award, Dr Aird, who has been a BIR member for over 40 years, said, “I feel enormously privileged to receive this award. Not only have a few of my very eminent colleagues received this award, but many recipients in the 20th century have been an inspiration to me in physics, medicine and biology.”

Andy Beavis and Edwin Aird