Professor Sir John Pendry received his Ph.D. in Solid State Theory from the University of Cambridge in 1969. He began his career in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge (where he was a Fellow of Downing College), Bell Laboratories and Daresbury Laboratory. Since 1981, he has been the Chair in Theoretical Solid-State Physics in the Imperial College London where he has served as Dean, Head of Physics Department (1998-2001), and subsequently Principal of the Faculty of Physical Sciences (2001-2002).

Professor Sir Pendry is a condensed matter theorist known for his research into refractive indices and creation of the first practical “Invisibility Cloak”. He has worked extensively on electronic and structural properties of surfaces, developing the theory of low energy diffraction and electronic surface states and transport in disordered systems.

In 1992, Professor Sir Pendry turned ...... (more on Prof. Pendry's profile page on the HKIAS website).