12 Facts About Brendan Scaife

Brendan Kevin Patrick Scaife FTCD, MRIA, Boyle Laureate, is an Irish academic engineer and physicist who carried out pioneering work on the theory of dielectrics.

Brendan Scaife was born in London on 19 May 1928 and just after World War II he began his undergraduate studies in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Queen Mary College, University of London; he graduated in 1949.

Brendan Scaife was the first scientist to successfully measure the complex permittivity of a number of polar liquids such as eugenol, glycerol and water as a function of pressure up to 12 kbar.

Brendan Scaife joined the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in 1954.

Brendan Scaife's interest in the theory of dielectrics led to a collaboration with Herbert Frohlich at the University of Liverpool, where he was a regular visitor in the 1950s and 1960s.

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Brendan Scaife developed a lifelong friendship with Frohlich and the members of his research group.

Brendan Scaife sought to apply the work of Callen and Welton on the Fluctuation-dissipation theorem to Frohlich's work on dipole moment fluctuations in dielectric bodies.

Later Garrett Brendan Scaife took a keen interest in designing and automating the high-pressure equipment and establishing the dielectric measuring techniques, and devoted a good part of his career studying the dielectric properties of liquids and liquid crystals under high pressures.

Several years Scaife was a visiting professor at the University of Salford and in collaboration with Professor J H Calderwood, he published a number of important papers.

Brendan Scaife explored the dispersion of the frequency dependent magnetic susceptibility of these fluids, developing the necessary underlying theoretical understanding.

Brendan Scaife's results contradicted the works published in the literature at the time.

Brendan Scaife was awarded the Boyle Medal of the Royal Dublin Society in 1992.