Allan Boardman

{{Short description|British physicist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Allan Boardman

| image = Allan Boardman (5181553378).jpg

| caption = Boardman in 2007

| birth_date = October/November 1937

| birth_place = Northumberland, England[https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVQX-HKRZ England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008; Northumberland Central, Northumberland, England: Oct-Nov-Dec, 1937]. FamilySearch. Retrieved May 27, 2021.

| death_date = November 24, 2018; aged 81

| death_place =

| education =

| alma_mater = Durham University

| occupation = Physicist

}}

Allan Dawson Boardman was a British physicist, known for his work on surface plasmons and guided wave optics, especially nonlinear waves, solitons, magneto-optics and negative refracting metamaterials. He was a theorist and numerical analyst in these areas, especially magneto-optics and metamaterials. In 2006 he was made a fellow of the Optical Society of America for his contributions in these fields and for "exemplary leadership and service to the optics community".{{cite web|title=2006 Fellows - Awards and Grants|url=http://www.osa.org/en-us/awards_and_grants/fellow_members/recent_fellows/2006_fellows/|publisher=Optical Society of America|accessdate=August 11, 2014}}

Boardman made substantial contributions to his university, leading the School of Sciences. Latterly, he was a Professorial Research Fellow{{cite web |url=http://www.salford.ac.uk/computing-science-engineering/cse-academics/allan-boardman |title=Allan Boardman {{!}} School of Computing, Science & Engineering {{!}} University of Salford, Manchester |website=www.salford.ac.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151027043018/http://www.salford.ac.uk/computing-science-engineering/cse-academics/allan-boardman |archive-date=2015-10-27}} at the University of Salford. He held a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Durham. He was a Fellow of the UK Institute of Physics and a Fellow of the UK Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. He was the conference chair for the major UK photonics meeting called Photon10.{{cite web|title=First Announcement and Call for Papers|url=http://photon10.iopconfs.org/file_38799.pdf|publisher=Photon10|accessdate=August 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812210841/http://photon10.iopconfs.org/file_38799.pdf|archive-date=August 12, 2014|url-status=dead}} He was a Fellow of the SPIE[http://spie.org/x38.xml Complete list of SPIE fellows] and co-chair of the SPIE Photonic Metamaterials conference series to be held in San Diego in 2014.[http://spie.org/OPN/conferencedetails/plasmonics-metallic-nanostructures Plasmonics: Metallic Nanostructures and Their Optical Properties XII conference details] He had also organized other conferences, including being a director of a number of pivotal NATO Advanced Study Institutes.

He was the chair of the Optics and Photonics Division of the UK Institute of Physics and the vice-president of the United Kingdom Consortium for Optics and Photonics (UKCPO). He had served as a board member of the Quantum Electronics and Optics Division of the European Physical Society.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}} He was the UK voice on the new European strategy program called OPERA [Optics and Photonics in the European Research Area] 2015.

Boardman was honoured with a special session in his name at the 3rd International Conference on Metamaterials, Photonic Crystals and Plasmonics (Meta '12) in Paris in 2012.{{cite web|title=Special Sessions|url=http://metaconferences.org/ocs/index.php/META/index/pages/view/special-sessions|publisher=3rd International Conference on Metamaterials, Photonic Crystals and Plasmonics|accessdate=August 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002183303/http://metaconferences.org/ocs/index.php/META/index/pages/view/special-sessions|archive-date=2013-10-02|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Parisian lecture in honour of Salford physicist|url=http://www.salfordonline.com/educationnews_page/35453-parisian_lecture_in_honour_of_salford_physicist.html|publisher=SalfordOnline|accessdate=August 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812203954/http://www.salfordonline.com/educationnews_page/35453-parisian_lecture_in_honour_of_salford_physicist.html|archive-date=2014-08-12|url-status=dead}} He presented nearly 300 conference papers and had been editor for several books, such as 'Soliton-driven Photonics' https://www.amazon.com/Soliton-driven-Photonics-Nato-Science-II/dp/0792371313/ .{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

Boardman died on 24 November 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://spie.org/news/1206-allan_boardman_obit|title=In Memoriam: Allan Boardman}}