My friend and colleague Tim Richardson, who has died of cancer aged 48, was an inspirational teacher, an outstanding scientist and a man of enormous warmth, humour and generosity.
Tim was born at North Ferriby in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The family moved to York when he was three, and at 18 he went to study physics at Durham University, where he met his wife, Sue. After graduating, Tim studied for a DPhil at Oxford University with Prof Sir Gareth Roberts. He and Sue married in 1988; their sons were born in 1993 and 1995.
In 1989, Tim was awarded his DPhil and became a research engineer for Thorn EMI. In 1991, he joined the physics and astronomy department at Sheffield University, becoming a senior lecturer in 1997 and reader in 2007. Over the course of his research career, Tim published more than 150 papers in scientific journals and supervised 28 PhD students. He will be remembered for his role as head of year 1 physics, in which capacity he helped countless students make the transition to university.
In 2011, Tim did a gruelling 24-hour lecture marathon in aid of Children in Need, raising more than £8,000, with talks for everyone from primary school children to academics, all given with his trademark humour and imaginative demonstrations that made the science accessible and fun. His contributions to teaching were recognised in January 2013 with a Senate award for sustained excellence in learning and teaching from the university.
Tim loved music, gardening, walking and fishing. He was a writer and painter. At the time of his illness he was studying for an OU modern languages degree and participating in the university's leadership programme. In June 2012, he was told that he had terminal cancer. Typically, he wanted to use his experience to help others, and so with colleagues he set up the charity Inspiration for Life and started to keep a diary, which will be published to raise funds for charity.
Tim is survived by Sue, their sons, Matt and Liam, his parents, Keith and Barbara, and his sister, Susan.