Eleanor Campbell (scientist)

Eleanor Elizabeth Bryce Campbell
Scientific career
Institutions	University of Edinburgh
Thesis	Electronic to rovibrational excitation in fast atom-molecule collisions

Eleanor Campbell FRS FRSC FInstP is a Professor of Physical Chemistry at Edinburgh University. Campbell was awarded the FRS for her contribution to the understanding of relaxation channels and reorganisational dynamics of highly excited molecules and surfaces through experimental research in 2010.

Early education

Campbell was born and schooled on the Island of Bute, Scotland, Scotland. She was a former pupil of Rothesay Academy. She completed her first (1982) and doctorate degree in Edinburgh University (1985) before receiving a habilitation in experimental physics from Freiburg University, Germany.

Academic career and accolades

After her time as assistant professor at Freiburg University, she moved on to become the departmental head at the Max-Born-Institut. In 1998 Eleanor was made Chair of Atomic and Molecular Physics at Gothenburg University, Sweden before returning to Edinburgh University in to take up a post as Chair of Physical Chemistry in 2007 and then Chemistry 2013.

Current work

Campbell's group at Edinburgh describe themselves as working in the field of carbon nanomaterials. They use femtosecond laser pulses to probe the ionisation dynamics of complex molecules using fullerene as a model system. Another way the group probe the properties of single molecules are through the help of plasmonic nanoantennas. Electromagnetic radiation is redirected by the utilising the unique surface plasmon properties of gold nanoparticles at the interfaces with carbon nanotubes in order to characterize their optical and electronic properties, similar to SERS.