In 1953, our father, Ivan Brown, who has died aged 86, was working at the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company when a colleague mentioned that “the group next door” was looking for a research assistant. Ivan leapt at the chance to do something different, and joined the Medical Research Council’s applied psychology unit (APU) as a technician. Within 21 years, he had risen to the position of assistant director of the APU, and by the time he retired in 1993 he had published more than 130 scientific papers, won numerous distinguished awards and fellowships in his field, and had been appointed OBE for services to research on transport safety.
Ivan was born in Isleham, Cambridgeshire, and grew up in the Fens. His father, Cecil, had a smallholding and drove a bus; his mother, May, was a domestic servant before marriage, and then became a housewife. Ivan left grammar school at 16, studied electrical engineering at evening college, and completed his national service as a commissioned officer with the Royal Engineers in India and Singapore.
Ivan’s engineering background brought a valuable set of skills to the APU. He saw his role as “giving psychology away” to engineers and other practical people who needed human factors applied to their work. He was the first president of the Ergonomics Society (now the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors), and an expert to whom the Department of Transport, the Home Office, the Police Federation and the Post Office turned when confronted with a technical problem. He researched a variety of ergonomics-related issues to ensure that the design of technological systems took sufficient account of people’s cognitive and perceptual abilities and limitations.
Much of Ivan’s research concentrated on driver behaviour: his studies included the effects of fatigue, intoxication and mental workload, as well as the causes of young drivers’ accidents. His groundbreaking studies of drivers’ “spare mental capacity” led to his measuring the effects of listening to car radios in traffic, and he conducted some of the first research into the use of mobile phones while driving.
Colleagues who knew him well always mention Ivan’s wonderful sense of humour, his kindness and his generous nature in helping and mentoring young researchers.
Ivan was a keen sailor, a talented potter and a loving family man. He is survived by his wife, Brenda, whom he married in 1956, by us, and by his four granddaughters.
