The following obituary was written by Dr Roger Knight (PH 58-62)

Photo courtesy of University Times, Dublin

Michael Coey was a distinguished physicist and a singular character. Evidence of the latter was obvious at Park House in the late 1950s. His parents were from Northern Ireland, he was tall, with a willowy figure, with execrable handwriting, passing exams with apparent ease, following his own path. The word ‘orthodox’ was not even then in his vocabulary. The music of Sibelius was an early passion. He listened with his eyes closed, with his glasses resting on his knee. His look of cold reproach, if interrupted, is remembered to this day.

A scholarship to Cambridge followed, interspersed with adventures. His father was in the army, stationed in Hong Kong. Returning after a visit, Michael decided to travel solo by the Trans-Siberian Railway, via Peking, as it was then known. Not so perilous today, perhaps, but this was 1963, a year after the Cuban missile crisis. He returned to England unscathed and unfazed.

Cambridge finished, with distinction, of course, more travel ensued, and a research career seemed obvious. It was during this period that he met Wong May, a Chinese-American poet, born in China and brought up in Singapore, with two acclaimed books of poetry already to her credit. They were married in 1971 until parted by Michael’s death.

His early career was spent at universities in Grenoble and Canada, pursuing research into lake mud. But a post in the School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin was where he settled, living in a vast Victorian house on the outskirts of the city. By this time, he had become a world authority on magnetism, and latterly on rare-earth magnetism. Research students came from all over the world to study with him. He and Wong May spent long periods in China, for teaching and research. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2003.

Honorary doctorates and prizes began to rain down on him: Universities of Grenoble, Strasbourg, the US Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy. In 2023 he was finally made a Doctor of Science at Trinity College, Dublin, as illustrated in the photograph. The Provost of Trinity, herself a distinguished scientist, summarised his career: "He was, quite simply, an astounding scientific mystery solver and a technological genius, driven by undiminished curiosity and enthusiasm for science". But perhaps the greatest honour was that people came from all over the world to celebrate Michael’s 80th birthday, eight months before he died.

For forty years after we left Tonbridge, contact with Michael was sporadic and unpredictable. Christmas cards might or might not arrive, occasional and unannounced visits might occur. But when he was made FRS in 2003, trips to London became more regular and this little Park House (58-63) group (Robin Gilbert, Tim Walker and Roger Knight) began to meet annually. Enduring ties from a distant past.

(PH 58-63)