THE work of a Malvern scientist in developing thermal imaging systems now used in medicine, agriculture and industry has been honoured by the Royal Photographic Society.

Professor Tom Elliott was presented with the Progress Medal for important scientific advances in photography at the society's annual awards ceremony in London yesterday.

It is the latest in a string of awards for Prof Elliott, who said he was very honoured to have received it.

In 30 years at the defence research establishment in Malvern, successively known as RRE, DERA and now QinetiQ, he was responsible for producing a detector that converts infra-red light into an electrical system capable of producing a visible image.

His late colleague, Bill Lawson, discovered and developed a new material called mercury cadmium telluride, which was a key element in the development of thermal imaging using photon detectors.

"It started in the mid-1970s as a defence project, but it has had lots of spin-offs, although it probably took 15 years for the civil uses to get off the ground," he said.

"They have been extended as the costs have come down. Now a camera would cost anything from £10,000 to £60,000.

"We saw the potential from early on, because when you are developing a thermal imaging camera, the first thing you do is point it at people in the laboratory. It was obvious it would have medical applications.

"There were research programmes in other countries, but ours was the first and the best. The Americans have common modules, but we believe that ours are better."

Because thermal imaging can detect changes of temperature, it is of particular interest to medical physicists, clinicians and vets.

It is useful for studying circulation problems, detecting inflammation in damaged or rheumatic joints and even assessing whether a skin graft has "taken", as the temperature changes when blood flows into the grafted skin.

"It is also used by search and rescue services. If you were looking for a missing child, the heat of their body would show very clearly, especially at night," said Prof Elliott.

Using thermal imaging cameras on aeroplanes or satellites, electricity companies can detect faults in power lines, scientists can spot early signs of disease in crops and meteorologists can see anticyclones forming and plot the movement of storms.

They can even be used to assess the insulation of a building, by showing heat loss.

Thermal imaging cameras are also used widely in the fire service, where firefighters wear them on helmets to help them see through smoke, or in earthquake regions, where the warmth of bodies can be detected under rubble.

Prof Elliott was a lecturer in electronic engineering at Manchester University when he first came to Malvern in 1967, intending to stay a couple of weeks.

With his wife, Brenda, who retired as a senior sixth form teacher at Chase High School three years ago, he is still there.

They have three children and five grandchildren.

Prof Elliott retired from DERA in 1999 as chief scientist of the electronics sector and now works as a consultant for QinetiQ and part-time professor at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

He is still working on the further development of the detectors.