Nicholas Phillips was a distinguished physicist and a pioneer in holography who launched holographic imaging in Britain.

Holography provides a precise technique for measuring changes in the dimensions of an object. In medicine it is used to combine Cat (computed axial tomography) scans into a three-dimensional image. Military applications include holographic radar. Scientists use it in holographic microscopy. Holographic imaging is integral to providing security from forgery for credit and debit cards, identity cards and tickets. And holographic art is used in advertising, to produce postage stamps and even jewellery.

Nicholas John Phillips was born in 1933 in Finchley, North London. His father was chief inspector of Nestlé’s factories and so the family travelled around Britain a lot and Nicholas went to 13 schools, the main one being Finchley Grammar.

He won a state scholarship and in 1953 was accepted by Imperial College London, graduating in 1956 with a BSc in mathematics. Between 1956 and 1957 he conducted research in theoretical physics in the mathematical department of Imperial College.

In 1957 he transferred to the physics department and worked on nuclear fusion. In 1959, instead of being conscripted into military service, he was appointed to the post of senior research Fellow at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment in Aldermaston, Berkshire, to work on nuclear fusion reactions.

Between 1962 and 1963 he went to the US and worked at the Sperry Rand Research Centre at Sudbury, Massachusetts, on fusion problems. He then returned to England to take up a post as theoretical physicist at English Electric, Whetstone, Leicester, where he worked for three years on a variety of theoretical problems, including the trapping of electrons in laser beams.

In 1965 he was appointed a lecturer in physics at Loughborough University; promoted to senior lecturer in 1975; and then promoted to Reader in physics in 1982. It was during this period that he developed an interest in holographic displays and a serious inquiry into photographic problems.

Holography is a technique of recording and displaying a three-dimensional image of an object, the recorded image being called a hologram.

A hologram is an interference pattern produced by a light wave and recorded on a photographic film, or some other surface, which, when illuminated suitably, produces a threedimensional image.

To produce a hologram, the light from a laser is divided so that some of it (called the reference beam) falls on a photographic plate. The other part illuminates the object, which reflects it back on to the photographic plate. The two beams interact to form an interference pattern on the plate which when developed is the hologram.

Laser light must be used because it is made of coherent waves of the same wavelength and phase. When the hologram is illuminated by coherent light the image is reproduced.

The Hungarian-born Dennis Gabor invented the method of holography in 1948 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery in 1971.

In 1977 and 1978 Phillips and his colleagues presented Europe’s first big exhibitions of holograms, at the Royal Academy of Arts. Named Light Fantastic I and II, they were very popular with the public, with queues stretching way down Piccadilly.

At this time, Phillips, John Wolff, who provided the light shows for The Who rock band, and Anton Furst, a set designer who went on to win an Oscar for his work on Batman (1989), formed the company Holoco. Between 1977 and 1981 Phillips was Holoco’s technical director. Keith Moon, The Who’s drummer, engaged Holoco to make a hologram of his image just a month before he died in 1978.

In 1981 The Who withdrew its financial backing and Phillips and two colleagues founded Advanced Holographics, based in Loughborough, which later became part of Markem Systems of Salford, Lancashire. At this time Phillips worked on chemical techniques of development and bleaching . Key chemical compounds were discovered that led to the production of holograms of a visual quality suitable for public exhibition.

Between 1986 and 1990 Phillips was a senior visiting tutor in holography at the Royal College of Art. In 1991 he became Professor of Applied Optics at Loughborough University. In 1993 he was appointed Professor of Imaging Science at De Montfort University, Leicester, a post he held until 2004. He became Emeritus Professor in Physics at Loughborough University and Emeritus Professor at Glyndwr University, Wrexham.

Phillips co-operated in the production of several television programmes and films about holography. He wrote many papers on various aspects of holography and held a number of patents. He lectured widely at universities and learned societies about holography and its links with art.

In 1982 he was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and in 1987 he was made Fellow of the Royal College of Art. In 1981 he was awarded the Institute of Physics’ Thomas Young Medal and Prize in recognition of contributions to holography, particularly the development of high- quality holograms for visual display. In 2002 he was awarded the Royal Photographic Society’s Saxby Award and Medal for achievements in three-dimensional imaging.

Phillips had suffered from Parkinson’s disease for several years.

He is survived by his wife, Kathy, and their son and daughter.

Professor Nicholas Phillips, physicist, was born on September 26, 1933. He died on May 23, 2009, aged 75