C.B. Lucas studied physics at University College London and obtained his Ph.D. by
measuring the polarization of electron impact radiation in helium. He was a Harwell Research
Fellow at the UKAEA Culham Laboratory, where he studied electron collisions with helium
ions. At the University of Tübingen he was an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow
working with beams of atomic hydrogen. He designed gaseous atomic beam experiments at
the University of York using a focussing capillary array. At the University of Münster he
used focussed atomic beams to measure the angular distribution and polarization of
elastically scattered electrons from the inert gases which he compared with his computations.
He cooperated with the Physics Institute at the University of Belgrade and also developed an
atomic beam experiment for the teaching laboratory to measure the velocity distribution of a
beam. At Royal Holloway College of the University of London he joined a group studying
the polarization of electrons produced by laser ionization of a beam of sodium atoms.
The remainder of Lucas’ full-time career was in administrative posts, but he kept in contact
with the academic world as a part-time tutor in the undergraduate and postgraduate
programmes of the Open University and particularly in continuing with the research needed
to produce his book, which has continued in his retirement.