His main areas of research were semiconductor devices to improve radar, including work on surface acoustic waves, and optical techniques using programmable phase plates.
His parents “were encouraging and supportive but…had little contact with the world of learning or with intellectual pursuits.” An only child, Paige “developed a passion for bird watching, which he sustained throughout his life.
He also “suffered periodically from chest complaints,” and his mother later told him that the doctor had lowered his fees for the family to make treatment affordable.
A member of the Sea Cadets, he expected to attend the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, Devon, after leaving school.
It was only at the suggestion of his headmaster, who recognized his gifts, that Paige, whose family had no history of higher education, stayed on into the sixth form.
At first his scientific interests were focused on biology, but when the school hired a master, Leslie Elliott, to teach physics and chemistry, Paige was attracted to those subjects.
[2] Its findings were useful in designing the radar for the RAF's Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft, and the team won the Ministry of Defence's Wolfe Award.
[1] In 1970, Paige formed a team, the UK SAW Liaison Group, that engaged in research and development into surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices.
Th group “flourished for most of a decade” and “was a fruitful venture, engendering good collaboration between university, industry and government groups.”[1] The group's work resulted in many patents, publications and applications, and “the team's reputation spread internationally.”[4] The team, which included physicists Graham Marshall, Meirion Lewis, and Dennis Maines, developed SAW electronic filters, which had many applications, including mobile phones, when they later emerged.
The liaisons extended to groups in France, and for some period there were regular Anglo-French consortia meetings, with the British contingent led by Paige.”[1] In 1977 Paige became the Chair of Electrical Engineering at Oxford and a Fellow of St. John's College, titles he retained until 1997, which involved a shift in focus from physics to engineering and from research to a com bination of research and teaching.
Returning to Oxford he “developed an interest in programmable light modulators, using them to develop optical techniques with potential for sub-micron lithography....A three-dimensional image system for use as a head-mounted display also followed from his work.”[7] By the early 1990s he “was opening up an important new field using a ferroelectric spatial light modulator (SLM) in a novel phase-only mode.…Within a few years a wealth of developments and applications were found by Paige and his group, making his last years before retirement both productive and intellectually rewarding.”[1][8] In 1997, Paige retired from Oxford, but he was “active and productive” in his role as an emeritus professor, and received a Leverhulme Fellowship.