David Tabor

Who was David Tabor?

David Tabor was a British physicist who with Bowden, was a precursor of tribology the study of frictional interaction between surfaces.

He was Professor of Physics in the University of Cambridge, then Emeritus professor. He was head of Physics and Chemistry of Solids, Cavendish Laboratory, and Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, from 1957.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1963. In 1968 he was awarded the A. A. Griffith Medal and Prize. He was the first recipient of the Tribology Gold Medal, awarded by the Tribology Trust, which is administered by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1972. He also received the Guthrie Medal of the Institute of Physics, 1975 and the Royal Society's Royal Medal, one of their three highest awards, 1992.

He described his recreation as "Judaica".