Terahertz Pioneer: Sir John B. Pendry - "Theoretical Physics for a Practical World"

Abstract

Sir John Pendry leaves one with the impression of being in the presence of a person of quiet determination, with the resolve to take on challenges that would place most scientists well out of their comfort zone. Although a theoretical physicist by degree, his early training, and whatever free time he had in his youth, were spent on a wide variety of experimental endeavors. These included electronics, chemistry, wireless, and solid-fuel rockets, which he was able to launch, cows and sheep notwithstanding, from the farms surrounding his family home in Manchester, U.K. His parents ran a Sweet Shop (one can only imagine the delight this must have been to a young lad growing up in the deprivations of WWII England), with a cellar in which he could do his experiments. John's uncle was an engineer by training and taught in a local school. He often brought John to the school lab, unquestionably influencing his early leanings towards science.

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