Geoffrey Sims

{{Short description|British academic}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Use British English|date=April 2018}} '''Geoffrey Donald Sims''' [[OBE]], [[FREng]]<ref name="List of Fellows">{{cite web|title=List of Fellows|url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows|access-date=23 October 2014|archive-date=8 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160608094405/http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows|url-status=dead}}</ref> (13 December 1926 – 5 August 2017) was a British physicist who served as Vice-Chancellor of the [[University of Sheffield]] from 1974 to 1991.

==Life== Sims was born 13 December 1926 in London. He studied at [[Imperial College, London]], gaining a BSc in [[physics]] in 1947 and in [[mathematics]] in 1948; an MSc in mathematics in 1950 and a PhD in physics in 1954.<ref name=IEEE>''IEEE Transactions on Education'', March 1968 page 83</ref> He worked for [[General Electric Company plc|General Electric Company]] from 1948 to 1954 then the [[Atomic Energy Authority]] until 1956 when he joined the academic staff of the Department of Electronics at the University of Southampton, becoming a professor and head of the Department of [[Electronics]] at the same university,<ref name=IEEE/> a position he held from 1963 to 1974.<ref name=ECS>[http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/about/ecs_history.php The University of Southampton: An Illustrated History, published 2002] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804140311/http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/about/ecs_history.php |date=4 August 2008 }} History of ECS</ref>

Sims died on 5 August 2017, at the age of 90.<ref>{{cite news |title=Geoffrey Sims, University vice-chancellor |url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/geoffrey-sims-university-vice-chancellor-1771712 |access-date=7 December 2022 |work=The Yorkshire Post|date=10 August 2017}}</ref>

==Honours== Sims was awarded an [[OBE]] in 1971.<ref name=LG>Supplement to the London Gazette, 1 January 1971, p. 11</ref> He was made a [[Fellow]]<ref name="List of Fellows"/> of the [[Royal Academy of Engineering|Academy of Engineering]]<ref name="List of Fellows"/> in 1980.<ref name=FREng>[http://www.raeng.org.uk/about/fellowship/fellowslist.htm?Page=59&Size=20 Royal Academy of Engineering] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612051237/http://www.raeng.org.uk/about/fellowship/fellowslist.htm?Page=59&Size=20 |date=12 June 2011 }} Fellowship List</ref> He was awarded the honorary degree of LLD of the University of Sheffield in 1991.<ref name=LLD>[http://govern.dept.shef.ac.uk/calendar/21hon_grad.pdf Sheffield Honorary Graduates]{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box|title=Vice-Chancellor of the [[University of Sheffield]]|years=1974–1991|before=[[Hugh Robson (educator)|Hugh Robson]]|after=[[Gareth Roberts (physicist)|Gareth Roberts]]}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sims, Geoffrey}} [[Category:1926 births]] [[Category:2017 deaths]] [[Category:Academics of the University of Sheffield]] [[Category:Academics of the University of Southampton]] [[Category:Alumni of Imperial College London]] [[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering]] [[Category:British physicists]] [[Category:British electrical engineers]] [[Category:Vice-chancellors of the University of Sheffield]]