Remembering Professor Michael Howes
Members will be saddened to learn of the death, on 30 December 2025, of Emeritus Professor Michael J Howes.
The following obituary has been compiled by Rob Kelsall and Roland Clarke, with contributions from Professor Brian Hoyle and Professor Sir Christopher Snowden.
Professor Howes – Mike, as he preferred to be known – was a staff member of the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering for 39 years.
Mike was born in Lowestoft in 1941, and he received his early education whilst working at the Government Fisheries Research Station. He entered the University in 1962 as an undergraduate in what was then known as the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He earned his PhD and was appointed Lecturer in 1967, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1976, and appointed Chair in Electronic and Electrical Engineering in 1986.
Mike, together with colleague Vernon Morgan, co-founded the Microwave and Solid-State Research Group, focusing on microwave electronics. They co-edited a long-running series of authoritative texts on microwave devices published by Wiley and launched a summer school on Microwave Solid-State Devices and Applications, which became highly regarded across the UK and Europe. The research group became extremely successful, with academic staff such as Roger Pollard, John Richardson, and Chris Snowden bringing new expertise, and established close links with the UK and international microwave and semiconductor industries.
Mike’s principal research contributions were in microwave oscillators, providing precise signal sources for subsystems from 1 GHz to 100 GHz and developing design concepts for Gunn diode, IMPATT, and microwave transistor oscillators. He spent sabbatical periods in the early 1980s in Lester Eastman’s microwave research group at Cornell University, USA.
Mike was highly regarded by students as a lecturer, teaching Electronic Circuits and Solid-State Electronic Devices. His depth of understanding and ability to convey challenging concepts were supported by extremely clear diagrams, where possible, using his preferred medium: chalk. He co-authored with Vernon Morgan the well-received undergraduate textbook ‘Solid State Electronic Devices’ (Wykeham, 1972).
In 1984, Mike was appointed as Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. It was a period of considerable cultural and organisational change across the University, and Mike had a clear vision for the department's future direction. On chairing his first staff meeting, Mike announced with confidence that “There are going to be changes!” Indeed, there were, as the era of student grants and unconditional government funding was evolving into a more financial and outcomes-driven model of higher education.
Under Mike’s leadership, the department's strong reputation led to significant industry sponsorship of research, yet he continued to advocate for both research and scholarship. Mike was a firm believer in integrating teaching and research and keen to support rapidly growing areas in electronics. One such example was the Microsystems Unit (MSU) formed in 1981 by Brian Hoyle and colleagues.
An early Unix minicomputer provided networked support for software/hardware development for novel applications in fields including biomedicine, chemical engineering, and textile manufacturing. As Head of Department, Mike supported links with IBM’s UK Academic Computing Systems team. When the Leeds team was invited to visit IBM’s Cambridge office, Mike was brave enough to make the journey (at the lowest cost) in a Grumman Traveler light aircraft flown by amateur pilot Brian. IBM subsequently donated 50 of the UK’s first networked IBM PCs. A link via Microsoft led to a meeting with a young Bill Gates, who kindly agreed to provide software for the network.
Mike served as Head of Department for 10 years. He had a refreshingly egalitarian approach to professional interactions and, in an era when many universities were still culturally hierarchical, Mike’s departmental coffee room hosted professors, junior lecturers, and technicians, all gathered around the same table. Indeed, much of the practical departmental business was done in that coffee room!
Although he was a determined leader, Mike always enjoyed a moment of conviviality with colleagues. He also had several interests outside University life. From a young age, he was a keen sportsman who played cricket, tennis, football, and later golf. He was a member of Moortown Golf Club for 40 years.
After a total of 44 years in study and work at the University, Professor Mike Howes retired in 2006. He is survived by his wife, Dianne, and his daughter, Emma.
