Elevated to the Peerage

A life peerage raises the recipient to the rank of Baron. Prior to the passing of the Life Peerages Act of 1958 the only life peers were the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary who had been appointed to carry out the judicial duties of the House of Lords. Since 1958, however, men and women have been appointed peers or peeresses and rank as Barons or Baronesses for life. Each is entitled to a writ of summons to attend, and to sit and vote in the House of Lords.

Educated at Melbourne University, where he obtained a BSc in physics and electronics, and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he gained BA (mechanical sciences), PhD and ScD degrees in electrical engineering, Sir Alec Broers began his distinguished career with IBM as a researcher in New York.

He eventually became manager of advanced technology with responsibility for development of high-speed microelectronics for IBM's mainframe computers and was appointed an IBM Fellow in recognition of his outstanding technical contributions. He was associated with inventing the scanning electron microscope, which revolutionised the investigation of cells and tiny creatures.

In 1984 Sir Alec returned to the University of Cambridge, where he was elected Professor of electrical engineering and Fellow of Trinity College. Before taking up the position of Vice-Chancellor in October 1996, he was head of the department of engineering at Cambridge and Master of Churchill College.

As Vice-Chancellor, Sir Alec played a significant role in the University of Cambridge’s rise as a centre of excellence for high technology. During his tenure, Cambridge was the first-ranked university in the Research Assessment Exercise and the Teaching Quality Assessment. Major benefactions and partnerships, such as those with Microsoft, the Gates Scholarships, and Unilever, and new faculty buildings for English, Maths and Divinity began during this period.

Sir Alec Broers became President of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2001 and will serve until July 2006. As President, Sir Alec gives leadership to the engineering profession. He has been able to use his national and international links to enhance the status of British engineering.

He has served on numerous UK, EC, NATO and other governments’ committees. He also serves on the Board of Vodafone Plc.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institute of Physics.

Sir Alec was knighted in 1998. His honorific title is still to be decided.