Knighthood for local man at forefront of fusion energy
A LOCAL man at the cutting edge of global fusion energy has been knighted in the King’s New Year’s Honours List.
Ian Chapman, 40, was educated at La Houguette School and Elizabeth College.
He is the CEO of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, the UK’s largest energy research organisation, with more than 2,000 scientists and engineers.
He has held a number of international roles in fusion research, currently chairing the IAEA Fusion Research Committee, as well as sitting on a number of ministerial committees in the UK and advising other governments on clean energy issues, and has been knighted for his efforts in this field.
His parents still live locally and he returns to the island regularly. He is also a non-executive director at Guernsey Electricity.
Sir Ian joined UKAEA after receiving his MSc in Mathematics and Physics from Durham University in 2004, and went on to complete a PhD in plasma physics from Imperial College London in 2008.
He became UKAEA’s head of tokamak science in 2014, and chief executive in 2016, a role that includes heading the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy laboratory in Oxfordshire.
His research has been recognised with a number of international awards, including the Institute of Physics Paterson Medal in 2013, the American Physical Society Thomas H Stix Award in 2017, and the Royal Society Kavli Medal in 2019.
Sir Ian has gone on record stating his belief that everyday fusion – often referred to as the ‘holy grail’ of energy production – will happen one day.
Fusion involves replicating the process that powers the sun to produce abundant clean energy. The process is hugely complex, however, and requires extreme heat. Experiments over decades have so far have produced only tiny quantities of energy.
‘As we strive to tackle climate change and at the same time deliver benefits to the UK economy, our fusion energy mission is more vital than ever,’ he has said.
A first for La Houguette School? Former pupil knighted in New Year’s Honours
LA HOUGUETTE School is believed to be able to claim its first knighthood after former pupil Ian Chapman, now head of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, was knighted for services to global fusion energy in the King’s New Year’s Honours list.
‘I’m in complete shock,’ he said at the weekend from his home in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
‘It feels like the sort of thing that happens when you retire at the end of your career, and I’m certainly not. It hasn’t really sunk in at all yet.’
Sir Ian, just 40, went to school at La Houguette and Elizabeth College before reading maths and physics at Durham University. He went into fusion research with the UKAEA and completed a PhD at Imperial College, London.
He, his wife and two children still return to the island twice a year for holidays.
Mum and dad, Suzanne and Geoff Chapman, who still live in St Peter’s, said they were surprised and ‘thrilled’ at the news.
