We at AILU were very sorry to hear of the passing of Ken Watkins, who was a widely-known and well-respected figure in the world of industrial laser applications.
AILU has a long historical connection with Liverpool University as one of the “engine rooms” of laser material processing research, and instigators of the founding of AILU under Bill Steen as first AILU President. Ken led the group at Liverpool for 9 years, from when Bill retired to his own retirement in 2012. The words below are from colleagues in the School of Engineering, University of Liverpool.
Originally educated at the University of Wales, Swansea, Ken was an expert in the study of mechanisms of laser-materials interaction. He joined our University in 1988 and held the position of Professor of Laser Engineering from 2003 until his retirement in 2012. During this time his research interests in the applications of lasers were wide and varied, encompassing laser cleaning, laser forming, laser surface treatment, direct laser deposition and laser micro and nano processes, with applications in fields as varied as aerospace, general engineering, biomaterials, art conservation and medicine.
Ken established Masters programmes which are still running after thirty years, and in 1996 he co-founded and directed the Lairdside Laser Engineering Centre in Birkenhead, devoted to industrial partnerships. Ken contributed to several successful European projects for research, as well as to knowledge exchange and training initiatives with industry across Merseyside and the North West.
Outside of his academic life, Ken’s other passion was for books. He had been an avid reader from an early age, a habit fuelled by having a grandfather who ran a mobile lending library in Birmingham (where Ken was born in 1947) and who left a “treasure trove” of books to Ken’s parents. His retirement gave him more time to devote to this hobby, not just for reading, but to become a successful published author. Ken wrote thrillers under the pen name of “Seb Kirby”, covering a variety of genres from crime to psychology and sci-fi.
Ken is survived by his wife, Liz and his grown-up family, two sons and a daughter.