Alexander Marian Bradshaw

Abstract Professor Alex Bradshaw was an internationally recognized experimentalist in the study of the physics and chemistry of well-characterized solid surfaces, developing and exploiting a range of novel techniques to investigate molecular adsorption and reaction on single crystal surfaces in ultra-high vacuum conditions. Originally trained as a physical chemist, he went on to become a highly respected physicist, as witnessed, for example, by his election to be the president of the German Physical Society. He founded, and became director of, the Surface Physics Department of the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin (a Max Planck Society institute), while also becoming scientific director of the Berlin Electron Storage Ring Society for Synchrotron Radiation. Alongside almost 30 years of research achievements in surface science, recognized by a series of national and international awards, his success in management of science led to a huge change in 1999, when he was invited to become science director of the much larger Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) with a totally different scientific focus on high-temperature plasma physics and nuclear fusion. Here it was his skill in science management that led to a significant reorganization of the IPP and its success in overcoming important challenges in the realization of the newly expanded goals of the institute.