John Michael Coey 2007-2012

Michael Coey was born in Belfast in 1945. In 1966 he received his BA from Cambridge and in 1971 received his PhD from the University of Manitoba. Coey’s thesis was on the ‘Mossbauer Effect of ⁵⁷Fe in Magnetic Oxides’. Shortly after receiving his PhD he was appointed to a position with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Grenoble, France where he investigated metal-insulator transitions in NiS and Ti₄₀O₇. Coey moved to Trinity in 1978. In 1987 he was awarded a ScD by Trinity College and began working as the professor of experimental physics. He co-founded Magnetic Solutions Ltd in 1994. From 1984 to 1994 he co-ordinated the Concerted European Action on Magnets. He was appointed Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy in 2007, serving until 2012. 

His books include: ‘Rare-earth Iron Permanent Magnets’ (1996), ‘Permanent Magnetism’ with Ralph Skomski (1999). One of his most influential works in the field is an iron-based rare-earth magnet, Sm₂Fe₁₇N₃, which he discovered alongside his graduate student Sun Hong. He was a founding scientist of the Science Foundation Ireland funded Centre of Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) and Centre for Advanced Materials and Bioengineering Research (AMBER). New funding streams spurred development of the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) and the Science Gallery, conceived by Coey. In 2003 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 2005 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Irish Academy. Coey has over 800 publications, mainly in the field of magnetism, condensed matter, and materials science and is one of Ireland’s most cited scientists. His portrait hangs in the Fitzgerald Building in Trinity College.

Sources

1. Jonathan Lifland (2009), Profile of John Michael David Coey, PNAS, https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0904444106
2. Trinity Research (2019), Professor Michael Coey, TCD https://www.tcd.ie/research/profiles/?profile=jcoey
3. Research Gate (Accessed July 2023), J.M.D Coey, In Research Gate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/J-M-D-Coey
4. M.D. Coey at the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) in Dublin, Ireland. Courtesy of John Kelly.