Paul Atherton (entrepreneur)
Paul Atherton | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | Imperial College London London Business School |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge Cranfield University |
Paul David Atherton FREng (1954 – 2023) was a British philanthropist, innovator and engineer. He worked on interferometry and picometre sensors. He dedicated his career to innovation, product design and supporting startup companies. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2018.
Early life and education[edit]
Atherton studied physics at Imperial College London. During his studies he developed a new strategy to study the night sky more effectively, speeding up astronomical imaging and co-founding his first company.[1] Queensgate Instruments create new technologies to image the night sky, and was popular amongst academia and industry.[2] Atherton spent a year developing Queensgate, Atherton decided to focus on entrepreneurship, and completed an MBA at the London Business School.[1]
Career[edit]
Atherton specialised in the development of sensors and control devices. He taught engineering at the University of Cambridge and Cranfield University.[1] Atherton dedicated much of his career to supporting enterprise and venture activities at Imperial College London.[3] From 2004 he served as non executive Director of Imperial Innovations, a technology commercialisation company. He held this position for ten years, securing investment funding for various startups and spinouts. He was an early investor in FA Bio, a sustainable agriculture spinout that restores the biodiversity of degraded soil.
In 2017 Atherton founded the Imperial Venture Mentoring Service, which attracts entrepreneurs and industry experts into volunteer mentoring roles.[3]
Awards and honours[edit]
- 1995 London Business School Alumni Engagement Award[1]
- 2013 Elected Fellow of the London Business School
- 2016 Elected Fellow of the Institute of Physics[1]
- 2018 Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering[4]
- 2021 Imperial College Alumni Entrepreneur Award[5][6][7]
Personal life[edit]
Atherton was a member of The Old Gits Band.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e "Remembering Dr Paul Atherton". London Business School. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ^ "Paul Atherton obituary". 2024-05-30. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ^ a b "In memory of Dr Paul Atherton | Imperial News | Imperial College London". Imperial News. 2023-04-25. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ^ "Paul Atherton". raeng.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ^ "In memory of Dr Paul Atherton | Imperial News | Imperial College London". Imperial News. 2023-04-25. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ^ "Dr Paul Atherton (PhD Physics 1978)". www.imperial.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ^ "Imperial shines a light on ten outstanding alumni | Imperial News | Imperial College London". Imperial News. 2021-01-11. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ^ "The Old Gits Blues Band music, videos, stats, and photos". Last.fm. 2023-11-30. Retrieved 2024-05-30.