Roy Sambles

{{short description|British physicist (born 1945)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}

{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}

{{Infobox scientist

| honorific_prefix = Sir

| name = Roy Sambles

| honorific_suffix = {{postnom|country=GBR|Kt|FRS|HonFInstP|size=100%}}

| image = Roy Sambles, 2012.jpg

| caption = Sambles in 2012

| birth_date = 1945

| birth_place = Callington, Cornwall

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| nationality = British

| fields = Physicist

| workplaces = University of Exeter

| alma_mater = Imperial College London

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| known_for = liquid crystal physics, surface plasmons, microwave photonics, Metamaterials, Natural Photonics

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| awards = Young Medal and Prize (2002)
Faraday Medal and Prize (2012)

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Sir John Roy Sambles {{postnom|country=GBR|size=100%|FRS|HonFInstP}} (born 1945) is an English experimental physicist and a former President of the Institute of Physics.{{cite web |title=New president-elect is announced |url=http://www.iop.org/news/13/jun/page_60290.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140817024800/http://www.iop.org/news/13/jun/page_60290.html |archive-date=2014-08-17 |website=iop.org |publisher=The Institute of Physics}}

Sambles, originally from Callington in Cornwall,{{cite web|url=http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144125&command=displayContent&sourceNode=232450&contentPK=20559915&folderPk=108202&pNodeId=251466|title=SCIENCE FUNDING HONOUR|work=This is Cornwall|publisher=Cornwall & Devon Media Ltd, City Wharf, Malpas Road, Truro, Cornwall TR1 1QH.|accessdate=2008-05-07}} studied physics at Imperial College, London, gaining his BSc and PhD degrees there, and has since published over 550 papers in international journals. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 2002.{{cite web|url=http://royalsociety.org/Lists-of-Royal-Society-Fellows-1660-2007/ |title=Lists of Royal Society Fellows 1660-2007 |publisher=The Royal Society |accessdate=23 August 2010 |location=London |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324095152/http://royalsociety.org/Lists-of-Royal-Society-Fellows-1660-2007/ |archivedate=24 March 2010 }}

Sambles was Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Exeter from 1991 to 2022. He has a long and distinguished career researching the interaction of light with matter. His group at Exeter studied a wide range of systems including: liquid crystal devices; iridescent butterfly wings; surface plasmons and microwave photonics. These studies have applications in liquid crystal displays for televisions and computer displays, highly sensitive detection of materials (e.g. for medical diagnosis), and optical and microwave communication.

In 2008, he was appointed to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Sambles was knighted in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to scientific research and outreach.{{London Gazette|issue=63135|supp=y|page=B2|date=10 October 2020}}