{{Short description|British theoretical physicist (1962–2023)}} {{Use British English|date=October 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Tom McLeish | birth_name = Thomas Charles Buckland McLeish | image = Tom McLeish FRS.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1962|5|1}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2023|2|27|1962|5|1}} | birth_place = | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = British citizenship | fields = {{hlist|Soft matter|Polymer physics|Theoretical physics}} | workplaces = {{Plainlist| * Durham University * University of Leeds * University of Sheffield<ref name=whoswho/>}} | patrons = | alma_mater = University of Cambridge | thesis_title = Molecular models of polymeric flows | thesis_url = http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.235947 | thesis_year = 1987 | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = {{Plainlist| * FRS (2011) * FRSC (2008) * FInstP (2003)}} | website = {{URL|tcbmcleish.wordpress.com}} | footnotes = | spouse = Julie Elizabeth King (m. 1984) | children = 4 children }}
'''Thomas Charles Buckland McLeish''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRS|FRSC|FInstP}} (1 May 1962 – 27 February 2023) was a British theoretical physicist.
His work is renowned for increasing understanding of the properties of soft matter. This is a matter that can be easily changed by stress – including liquids, foams and biological materials. He was a professor in the Durham University Department of Physics and director of the Durham Centre for Soft Matter, a multidisciplinary team that works across physics, chemistry, mathematics and engineering.<ref name=frs/> He also was the first Chair of Natural Philosophy at the University of York.
==Early life and education== McLeish was born on 1 May 1962.<ref name=whoswho>{{Who's Who | title=McLEISH, Prof. Thomas Charles Buckland | id = U255603 | volume = 2015 | edition = online Oxford University Press}}</ref> He was educated at Sevenoaks School in Kent and Emmanuel College, Cambridge<ref name=whoswho/> where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1984 (MA, 1987) and a PhD in 1987 for research on fluid dynamics.<ref>{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Cambridge|title=Molecular models of polymeric flows|first= Thomas Charles Buckland|last=McLeish|year=1987|url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.235947|oclc=556660733}}</ref>
==Academic career== McLeish began his academic career as a lecturer in physics at the University of Sheffield (1989 to 1993).<ref name="WW 2018">{{cite book|title=Mcleish, Prof. Thomas Charles Buckland|website=Who's Who 2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.255603|date=1 December 2017|chapter=Mcleish, Prof. Thomas Charles Buckland, (born 1 May 1962), Professor of Physics, Durham University, since 2008 (Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, 2008–14) |doi-broken-date=24 August 2025 }}</ref> He then moved to the University of Leeds, where he was Professor of Polymer Physics between 1993 and 2008.<ref name="WW 2018" /> He was a Professor of Physics at the University of Durham from 2008 to 2018.<ref name="WW 2018" /> He was additionally Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research between 2008 and 2014.<ref name="bio Dept">{{cite web|title=Prof T C B McLeish|url=https://www.dur.ac.uk/physics/staff/profiles/?id=6691|website=Department of Physics|publisher=Durham University|access-date=7 January 2018}}</ref>
In February 2018, McLeish moved to the University of York to take up the newly created Chair in Natural Philosophy.<ref name="appoints">{{cite web|title=University appoints Professor Tom McLeish to a Chair in Natural Philosophy|url=https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2017/research/mcleish-chair-york/|website=The University of York|access-date=7 January 2018|date=16 November 2017}}</ref>
===Research=== Although McLeish's work was mostly theoretical, he also worked closely with those performing experiments and in industry.<ref name="AggeliBell1997">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1038/386259a0| pmid = 9069283| title = Responsive gels formed by the spontaneous self-assembly of peptides into polymeric β-sheet tapes| journal = Nature| volume = 386| issue = 6622| pages = 259–62| year = 1997| last1 = Aggeli | first1 = A.| last2 = Bell | first2 = M.| last3 = Boden | first3 = N.| last4 = Keen | first4 = J. N.| last5 = Knowles | first5 = P. F.| last6 = McLeish | first6 = T. C. B. | author-link6 = Tom McLeish| last7 = Pitkeathly | first7 = M.| last8 = Radford | first8 = S. E. | bibcode = 1997Natur.386..259A| s2cid = 4343341| author-link8 = Sheena Radford}}</ref><ref name="TownsendRodgers2015">{{cite journal|last1=Townsend|first1=Philip D.|last2=Rodgers|first2=Thomas L.|last3=Glover|first3=Laura C.|last4=Korhonen|first4=Heidi J.|last5=Richards|first5=Shane A.|last6=Colwell|first6=Lucy J.|last7=Pohl|first7=Ehmke|last8=Wilson|first8=Mark R.|last9=Hodgson|first9=David R. W.|last10=McLeish|first10=Tom C. B.|last11=Cann|first11=Martin J.|title=The Role of Protein-Ligand Contacts in Allosteric Regulation of the Escherichia coli Catabolite Activator Protein|journal=Journal of Biological Chemistry|volume=290|issue=36|year=2015|pages=22225–22235|issn=0021-9258|doi=10.1074/jbc.M115.669267|pmid=26187469|pmc=4571973|doi-access=free}}</ref> He made significant advances in modelling the structure and properties of complex entangled molecules,<ref name="McLeish2002">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1080/00018730210153216| title = Tube theory of entangled polymer dynamics| journal = Advances in Physics| volume = 51| issue = 6| pages = 1379–1527| year = 2002| last1 = McLeish | first1 = T. C. B.| bibcode = 2002AdPhy..51.1379M| citeseerx = 10.1.1.629.3682| s2cid = 122657744}}</ref> blends of substances that don't usually mix (multiphasic liquids like oil and water - see reptation and crazing). This allows complex fluid behaviour and processing in an industrial setting to be more easily predicted.<ref name=frs/> Since 2000 he worked on biological physics: applying soft matter physics to the self-assembly of protein fibrils, protein fluctuation dynamics and its role in allosteric signalling, and statistical mechanics approaches to evolution. {{As of|2015}} he had published around 200 papers in peer reviewed scientific journals.<ref>{{Scopus|id=35510780100}}</ref><ref name=orcid/>
==Personal life== In 1984, McLeish married Julie Elizabeth King.<ref name="WW 2018" /> Together they had four children: two sons and two daughters.<ref name="WW 2018" />
McLeish's other interests included historical studies of medieval science, and he was a member of the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies at Durham.<ref name=frs/> In 1993, he became a lay preacher in the Anglican Church, delivering sermons at St Michael le Belfrey, York.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329120640/http://greenbelt.org.uk/contributors/tom-mcleish/|archive-date=2015-03-29|url=http://greenbelt.org.uk/contributors/tom-mcleish/|title=Tom McLeish|publisher=greenbelt.org.uk}}</ref> In 2014, he published a book on the relationship between religion and science called ''Faith and Wisdom in Science''.<ref name=fawis>{{cite book |last=McLeish |first=Tom |date=2014 |title=Faith and Wisdom in Science |url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/faith-and-wisdom-in-science-9780198702610 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0198702610}}</ref>
McLeish died on 27 February 2023, at the age of 60.<ref name=frs-live>{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/thomas-mcleish-11932/|publisher=Royal Society|location=London|title=Professor Thomas McLeish FRS}}</ref> A service of memorial and thanksgiving was held at York Minster Cathedral on 27 April 2023, a recording of which is available on the cathedral's YouTube channel.<ref>{{cite web |title=Live: Service of Memorial and Thanksgiving for the Life of Tom McLeish, broadcast from York Minster|url=https://www.youtube.com/live/R26XTLgaY5E|website=York Minster Official YouTube channel |access-date=27 April 2023 |language=en |date=27 April 2023}}</ref>
==Honours== McLeish was made a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) in 2003,<ref name="whoswho" /><ref name=durham>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324202313/https://www.dur.ac.uk/physics/staff/profiles/?id=6691|archive-date=2015-03-24|url=https://www.dur.ac.uk/physics/staff/profiles/?id=6691|title=Professor Tom McLeish, FInstP, FRS|publisher=Durham University}}</ref><ref name=orcid>Tom McLeish's {{ORCID|0000-0002-2025-0299}}</ref> and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in 2008.<ref name="WW 2018" /><ref name="appoints" /> In 2011, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), the United Kingdom's national academy of the sciences.<ref name=frs>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906145721/https://royalsociety.org/people/thomas-mcleish-11932/|archive-date=2015-09-06|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/thomas-mcleish-11932/|publisher=Royal Society|location=London|title=Professor Thomas McLeish FRS}} One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: {{blockquote|"All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License." --{{cite web |url=https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |title=Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies |access-date=2016-03-09 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925220834/https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |archive-date=25 September 2015 |df=dmy-all }}}}</ref>
In 2007, McLeish was awarded the Weissenberg medal by the European Society of Rheology. This is awarded to rheologists conducting research in Europe for outstanding, long-term achievements.
McLeish also received the Society of Rheology's Bingham Medal in 2010.
In 2017, McLeish received the Sam Edwards Medal and Prize for "his sustained and outstanding contributions to the fields of molecular rheology, macromolecular biophysics and self-assembly".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iop.org/about/awards/subject/edwards/edwards-medallists/page_69653.html|title=2017 Sam Edwards Medal and Prize|access-date=22 December 2019}}</ref>
In 2018, McLeish was awarded the Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship by the Archbishop of Canterbury "for his record as one of the most outstanding scientists of his generation, and the leading contemporary lay Anglican voice in the dialogue of science and faith".<ref>{{cite web |title=Archbishop of Canterbury presents 2018 Lambeth Awards |url=https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/news/latest-news/archbishop-canterbury-presents-2018-lambeth-awards |website=The Archbishop of Canterbury |access-date=16 April 2021 |language=en |date=6 April 2018}}</ref>
McLeish gave the 2021 Boyle Lecture (International Society for Science and Religion, ISSR) entitled "Rediscovering Science as Contemplation."<ref>{{cite web |title=The 2021 Boyle Lecture - ISSR|url=https://www.issr.org.uk/issr-statements/the-2021-boyle-lecture/|website=International Society for Science and Religion |access-date=28 February 2023 |language=en |date=9 November 2020}}</ref> A recording is available on the ISSR's YouTube channel.<ref>{{cite web |title=ISSR 2021 Boyle Lecture by Prof Tom McLeish and Response by Rt Revd & Rt Hon Lord Rowan Williams |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khYs4qJiS-Y|website=ISSR YouTube channel |access-date=28 February 2023 |language=en |date=3 February 2021}}</ref>
== Selected publications == * ''The Poetry and Music of Science: Comparing Creativity in Science and Art'' (2019) OXFORD University Press, {{ISBN|9780198797999}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FEcMuwEACAAJ|title=The Poetry and Music of Science: Comparing Creativity in Science and Art|last=McLeish|first=Tom|date=2019-02-05|publisher=OXFORD University Press|isbn=9780198797999|language=en}}</ref> * ''Soft Matter – An Emergent Interdisciplinary Science of Emergent Entities, Chapter 20 in The Routledge Handbook of Emergence'', (eds.) (2019) LONDON: Routledge, {{ISBN|9781315675213}} *''The Science and Religion Delusion: Towards a Theology of Science, in Knowing Creation - Perspectives from Philosophy, Theology and Science Eds.'' (2018) Zondervan Academic, {{ISBN|9780310536130}} * ''Faith and Wisdom in Science'' (2016) OXFORD University Press, {{ISBN|9780198757559}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/faith-and-wisdom-in-science-9780198757559|title=Faith and Wisdom in Science|last=McLeish|first=Tom|date=2016-04-16|publisher=OXFORD University Press|isbn=9780198757559|language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{wikiquote}} * {{twitter|mcleish_t}}
{{FRS 2011}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLeish, Thomas}} Category:1962 births Category:2023 deaths Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer Category:Academics of Durham University Category:Academics of the University of Cambridge Category:Academics of the University of Sheffield Category:Academics of the University of York Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Category:British Anglicans Category:British theoretical physicists Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society Category:Fellows of the Institute of Physics Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Category:Writers about religion and science Category:Academics of the University of Leeds Category:People educated at Sevenoaks School Category:British fellows of the Royal Society