David Tabor


David Tabor , FRS was a British physicist who was an early pioneer of tribology, the study of frictional interaction between surfaces, and well known for his influential undergraduate textbook "Gases, Liquids and Solids".

Early life and education

David Tabrisky was the sixth of seven children of Russian Jewish parents Charles Tabrisky and Rebecca, who had emigrated to the United Kingdom and lived at Notting Hill Gate. His father had been a non-commissioned officer in, and armourer to, the Russian Imperial Army, and had run a business as a gunsmith and metalworker. On coming to England, he established a small metalworking business specialising in customised fittings and designs. Charles Tabrisky changed the family's surname to "Tabor" in the early 1920s. Tabor was educated at the Portobello Road Primary School, Secondary School, and Imperial College London, then went to Cambridge to undertake research in the Department of Chemistry.

Academic career

In 1957, Tabor was elected a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. In 1964, the University of Cambridge appointed him Reader in Physics. From 1969 to 1981, he served as Head of Physics and Chemistry of Solids at the Cavendish Laboratory. In 1973, he was promoted to Professor of Physics. He was made Professor Emeritus when he retired in 1981.

Honours

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.
The David Tabor Medal and Prize was named in his honour.

Personal Life

In 1943, Tabor married Hanna Stillschweig, who survived him with their two sons.