Stuart Palmer

Who is Stuart Palmer?

Stuart Palmer FREng, also known as S. B. Palmer, was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warwick between 1987-2009. He is a professor of physics who has worked in Condensed Matter Physics and Engineering Physics and has extensively exploited the technique of ultrasound. While working at the University of Hull he led a team applying ultrasound to the diagnosis and monitoring of osteoporosis. This led to an ultrasonic index for osteoporosis and the development of commercial equipment that is available worldwide.

More recently he has developed techniques for the non-contact generation and detection of ultrasound based on both laser and electromagnetic techniques which have found a wide range of industrial applications.

His most esoteric discovery, with Jose Baruchel of ILL and ESRF in Grenoble, France is the existence of helical or chirality magnetic domains in certain antiferromagnetic materials.

Professor Palmer was born in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, studied at Sheffield University and spent 20 years at Hull University before moving to Warwick in 1987, where he was Head of the Physics Department for 12 years.