The Society regrets to hear of the passing of Professor Roger Thomas, who died on 17 December 2024. He was a Fellow Member with a long history with The Society, which included a period serving as Editor of Physiology News. Professor Roger Thomas was a pioneer, who gained international acclaim for developing ion-sensitive microelectrodes. He invented the recessed tip electrode, allowing tip diameters of less than 1 micrometre, which broadened the use of these electrodes in a wider range of cells.

He used these microelectrode techniques to characterise the electrogenic sodium pump in neurons and became an authority on intracellular pH and calcium regulation in large snail nerve cells.

Professor Roger Thomas embarked on his physiology career studying his undergraduate degree at University of Southampton, UK, before completing his PhD in London followed with a stint working in New York. He was Head of Physiology and the Dean of Medical Sciences at the University of Bristol, UK, and went onto being appointed Head of Physiology at the University Cambridge, UK, where he worked for a decade until his retirement in 2006.