Brown graduated in Physics from the University of London in 1962 and subsequently completed his PhD in neurophysiology from the University of Sheffield. After graduation, he worked as a Development Engineer with Pye Ltd. in Cambridge and subsequently as a Heath Physicist at Berkeley Nuclear Power Station. Later he was employed for a year as a UN Expert in Medical Electronics in Hyderabad, India. He subsequently was appointed to a chair in Medical Physics in Sheffield. He took partial-retirement in 2002 from his post as Chairman of the Department of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and the University of Sheffield.