Gerhard Materlik
Gerhard Theodor Materlik, CBE FRS, born 16 January 1945 in Marl, Germany, is a physicist and science leader known for his work in X-ray physics and the practical use of synchrotron radiation. He studied physics in Münster and Munich and earned his PhD from the University of Dortmund in 1975. After postdoctoral work at Cornell (1975–77) and Bell Labs, he joined DESY in Hamburg.
From 2001 to 2013 he was Chief Executive of Diamond Light Source, the United Kingdom's main synchrotron facility. He led the building of the accelerators and the instruments used for experiments across infrared to X-ray wavelengths. Since 2013 he has been Professor of Facilities Science at University College London (UCL).
Materlik has published more than 200 papers and helped develop synchrotron light sources worldwide. He was awarded the CBE in 2007 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2011. In 2014 he received the Glazebrook Medal from the Institute of Physics for his leadership in establishing Diamond Light Source.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 07:36 (CET).