Cambridge, thesis titled Selective ion beam etching in the scanning electron microscope 1965 Researcher at IBM USA, and serving on the Corporate Technical Committee 1977 Appointed to IBM Fellow by IBM's CEO. 1984 Returns to the University of Cambridge as Professor of Electrical Engineering and Fellow of Trinity College 1990 Master of Churchill College 1992 Head of Cambridge University Engineering Department 1994 International member of the National Academy of Engineering 1995 Becomes a non-executive director of Lucas Industries 1996 Vice Chancellor, University of Cambridge (until 2003) 1997 Becomes a non-executive director of Vodafone 1998 Knighted for services to education 1998 Founded the Cambridge Network with Hermann Hauser and David Cleevely 2001 President of The Royal Academy of Engineering 2004 Granted a Life Peerage (became Lord Broers) 2004 Becomes Chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee 2005 Broers presents the Reith Lectures for the BBC 2008 Becomes Chairman of Diamond Light Source Ltd. 2009 Becomes Chairman of Bio Nano Consulting. 2010 Becomes Chairman of the Technology Strategy Board Knowledge Transfer Network for Transport. 2012-2015 Chairman of the Judging Panel of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. Research Alec Broers began his research career in the Engineering Department of the University of Cambridge in 1961 working with Professor Oatley, and later with Dr William C Nixon, on the in situ study of surfaces undergoing ion etching in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The microscope he used had originally been built by Oatley and had then been modified Garry Stewart who had also added an ion source that focussed ions onto the sample surface. Garry Stewart, who was another of Professor Oatley's students, then moved to the Cambridge Instrument Company where he oversaw the design and building of the world's first commercial SEM, the Stereoscan. During his PhD Alec rebuilt the SEM fitting a magnetic final lens in place of the original electrostatic lens thereby improving the microscope's resolution to about 10 nm, and after examining ion etched surfaces, used the microscope's electron beam for the first time to write patterns, subsequently using ion etching to transfer these patterns into gold, tungsten and silicon structures as small as 40 nm. These were the first man-made nanostructures in materials suitable for microelectronic circuits opening up the possibility for the extreme miniaturization of electronic circuits that was to occur in the decades to come. After graduating from Cambridge, Lord Broers spent nearly