Draft:Bill Moore (physicist)

• File:Symbol opinion vote.svg Comment: Telegraph article, the only non-self-published source, is an interview. monkey_smashing^keyboards (talk) 21:02, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

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William Thomas Moore MBE (26 October 1936 – 17 August 1990) was a New Zealand-British physicist who helped develop thermal imaging technology.

Black and white headshot of a middle-aged white man with dark hair and a beard, wearing a suit and tie.

Early life and education

Moore was born on 26 October 1936 and grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand. He attended the University of New Zealand (Canterbury College), where he took his BSc in 1959 and Master's in 1961. He emigrated from New Zealand to work as a physicist in the UK, departing from Auckland on 17 October 1961.

Career, awards and publications

Moore worked for Rank Research Laboratories, which was integrated with Rank Pullin Controls in Debden, Essex. It was then bought by the British General Electric Company, becoming GEC Sensors Limited in 1987.

His work included the design and development of optics, analogue and digital electronics, distortion correction circuitry, target tracking systems, display systems, the mechanical specification of scanning mechanisms and pattern recognition. He is named on 22 patents filed between 1968 and 1987, and corresponded with Professor Sir Eric Ash of UCL, who was a Rank consultant, on the effect of gravity on light beams.

Moore's inventions included improvements in processing video signals in thermal imagers and refining thermal imaging apparatus to overcome the issue of "pupil scan". His most significant design was for a high-speed infra-red scanner that used an afocal optical system for better image quality. This was designated as Thermal Imaging Common Module Class II (TICM II) and had multiple applications, including improvements in British defence technology through its use in "aircraft mounted systems".

During his time as Chief Scientist at Rank, Moore was awarded an MBE, announced on 14 June 1980 in the Birthday Honours List and conferred in 1981. In 1986, Moore co-authored a paper outlining the design and development of the compact thermal imager.

Personal life

Black and whute photo of a man in his 30s standing behind a cine camera in a laboratory setting.

Moore filming for the Grasshopper Group, late 1960s

Moore's interests outside of work included photography, cine film, literature, Esperanto, music, politics and computing. He enjoyed listening to atonal composers like Hans Werner Henze and was a fan of The Consort of Musicke. He was a member of the Grasshopper Group of amateur animators and cine film enthusiasts, who met at the London School of Film Technique to produce shorts and adverts on 16mm and 35mm film.

Moore was married twice, to Helen from 1969 until her death in 1986 and to Valerie from 1989 until Moore's death in 1990. He was survived by his brother, three children, two step-children and Valerie, who paid tribute to him as "an immensely friendly, humorous and profoundly original man".