John Cockcroft
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John Cockcroft was a British physicist who lived from 1897 to 1967 and made important contributions to nuclear physics research. He is historically significant as a pioneering figure in the early development of nuclear science during the 20th century.
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Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1897-05-27
- Died
- 1967-09-18
- Works
- 5
Top works
- Melanesia
- The Organization of Research Establishments
- Die Friedliche Anwendung der Atomenergie
- Indonesia and Portuguese Timor
- Melanesia: isles of the South Pacific
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Sir John Douglas Cockcroft (27 May 1897 – 18 September 1967) was a British experimental physicist who shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ernest Walton for their splitting of the atomic nucleus, which led to the development of nuclear power and weapons.
After service on the Western Front with the Royal Field Artillery during the Great War, Cockcroft studied electrical engineering at Manchester Municipal College of Technology whilst he was an apprentice at Metropolitan Vickers Trafford Park and was also a member of their research staff. He then won a scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge, where he sat the Tripos exam in June 1924, becoming a Wrangler. Ernest Rutherford accepted Cockcroft as a research student in the Cavendish Laboratory, and Cockcroft completed his doctorate under Rutherford's supervision in 1928. With Walton and Mark Oliphant, he built what became known as a Cockcroft–Walton generator. Cockcroft and Walton used this to perform the first artificial disintegration of an atomic nucleus, a feat popularly known as "splitting the atom."
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1897 births1967 deaths20th-century British physicistsAlumni of St John's College, CambridgeAlumni of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and TechnologyAlumni of the Victoria University of ManchesterBritish Army personnel of World War IBritish experimental physicistsBritish fellows of the Royal SocietyChancellors of the Australian National UniversityChief Scientific Advisers to the Ministry of Defence