A NUCLEAR physicist who spent his whole career working at Culham has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

The prestigious award places Dr Jack Connor, of Oxford Road, Abingdon, alongside Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hawking and worldwide web inventor Tim Berners Lee on a list of the nation’s most eminent scientists.

Dr Connor, 67, retired from the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in 2007 after spending his professional life as a plasma physicist investigating how to control and stabilise nuclear fusion reactions.

His work could eventually help provide greener power.

He said: “At school, I remember being rather more interested in history to begin with, but it was round about the time that Calder Hall was opened.

“I was very excited that the Queen was opening the world’s first nuclear power station, and that took my interest.”

He added: “Since early nuclear fusion experiments did not really follow the theory, it has been a huge challenge to try to understand what is actually happening from a physics point of view.”

His name was first put forward for the Royal Society in 2006, before a series of committees considered whether his lifetime’s work deserved it.

He said: “I knew it was in the offing because I had to agree to be nominated four years ago. Then it all went quiet for a long time.

“In the final stages, one committee made a recommendation and I was told it was 99 per cent probable I would be elected. I was told by the man who used to be my boss at Culham that I had been elected.”

Just 44 scientists from the UK and Commonwealth are elected to the Fellowship of the 350-year-old Royal Society each year.

Past members have included Charles Darwin, Christopher Wren, and Michael Faraday.

In July, Dr Connor and his wife Rachel will travel to London to sign the Royal Society Charter Book, dating from 1663, with a quill pen, formally admitting him to the Society.

The grandfather-of-four added: “It is a great feeling. It is not something I had ever thought would happen.

“We celebrated with a family barbecue at the weekend.”