Derek Abbott (born 3 May 1960, in South Kensington, London, UK) is a physicist and electronic engineer. In the 1969-1971 period, he was a boarder at Copthorne Preparatory School, Sussex, UK.During 1971-1978 he attended the Holland Park School London.In late 1977, he began work at GEC Hirst Research Centre, Wembley, UK, performing research in the area of CCD and microchip design for imaging systems. Whilst working, he graduated in 1982 with a BSc in Physics from Loughborough University,.