Michael Coey

John Michael David Coey (born 24 February 1945), known as Michael Coey, is a Belfast-born experimental physicist working in the fields of magnetism and spintronics. He is an Emeritus professor at the Trinity College Dublin (TCD).

Education
Michael Coey got a BA in Physics at Jesus College, Cambridge (1966), and a PhD from University of Manitoba (1971) for a thesis on "Mössbauer Effect of 57Fe in Magnetic Oxides" with advisor Allan H. Morrish.

He has been in the physics department of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) since 1978. He obtained his ScD in 1987 and passed his Habilitation from the University of Grenoble in 1986, and an honorary doctorate in 1994. He served as Erasmus Smith's Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at TCD from 2007 to 2012.

Career
Michael Coey has been a Professor of Physics at TCD since 1987, and was the last appointed Erasmus Smith's Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy (2007–2012), a chair that dates from 1724.

In 1994 Coey founded Magnetic Solutions and went on to be the cofounder of CRANN Ireland's Nanoscience Research institute (2002) and conceived Dublin's unique Science Gallery (2006). He has published over 700 scientific articles on diverse aspects of magnetism, many of which have had significant impact on the scientific community.

His textbook Magnetism and Magnetic Materials has been well received.

He delivered a public lecture on the History of Magnetism in Paris in 2010. Currently, Coey holds positions at National University Singapore and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden.

He has been part of numerous collaborations including: IBM Yorktown Heights (1979), Institute of Physics Peking (1980), McGill University (1982), University of Bordeaux (1984), CEN-Grenoble (1985), Johns Hopkins APL (1986), Universite de Paris IV (1992), University of California, San Diego (1997), Florida State University (1998), University of Paris XI (1998), Leman University Geneva (2001/3), University of Strasbourg (2006).

Coey pioneered a co-operation project between academic and industrial laboratories in the Concerted European Action on Magnets (1985–95). Throughout his career he has strongly identified himself with the European spirit and tradition of collaboration.

Honours and awards
Mike Coey is a member of the Royal Irish Academy (1987), a Fellow of the Royal Society (2003) and a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences (2005). He is also a fellow of the Institute of Physics, the Mineralogical Society of America and the American Physical Society. His numerous awards include a Fulbright Fellowship, the Charles Chree Medal of the Institute of Physics (1997), the Gold Medal of the Royal Irish Academy (2005) the RDS INTEL Prize Lecture on Nanoscience (2012) in addition to being the recipient of the Humboldt (2013), Gutenberg (2015) and Max Born Medal and Prize (2019) awards. He has an honorary doctorate from the Institute Institute National Polytechnique Grenoble (1994) and has been a Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Magnetics Study (2006) and the Albert Einstein Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2010). He received the Max Born Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics in 2012.

Books

 * Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (Cambridge University Press, 2010)
 * (with R. Skomski) Permanent Magnetism (IOP 1999)
 * (with K Moorjani) Magnetic Glasses (Elsevier 1984)
 * (edited) Rare Earth Iron Permanent Magnets (Oxford 1996)
 * (edited) Concerted European Action on Magnets (Elsevier 1989)
 * (edited) Structural and Magnetic Phase Transitions in Minerals (Springer 1988)
 * (edited) Current Topics in Magnetism (CJP 1987)

Personal life
Since 1973, Coey has been married to poet Wong May Coey and has two sons.