Sir Alan Howard Cottrell, FRS (17 July 1919 – 15 February 2012) was an English

metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

. He was also former Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government and vice-chancellor of Cambridge University 1977–1979.

Early life

Cottrell was educated at Moseley Grammar School and the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

, where he gained a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in 1939 and a PhD for research on

welding Welding is a fabrication (metal), fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, primarily by using high temperature to melting, melt the parts together and allow them to cool, causing Fusion welding, fusion. Co ...

in 1942.

Career

Cottrell joined the staff as a lecturer at Birmingham, being made professor in 1949, and transforming the teaching of the department by emphasising modern concepts of

solid state physics Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as solid-state chemistry, quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state p ...

.History of Metallurgy at Birmingham
Engineering at Birmingham University In 1955 he moved to A.E.R.E. Harwell, to become Deputy Head of Metallurgy under

Monty Finniston Sir Harold Montague "Monty" Finniston FRS FRSE (15 August 1912 – 2 February 1991) was a Scottish industrialist. Life He was born at 26 Aikenhead Road in Govanhill, Glasgow the son of Robert Finniston. His family were of Russian Jewish ori ...

. From 1958 to 1965 Cottrell was Goldsmiths' Professor of Metallurgy at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, and a fellow of Christ's College. He later worked for the government in various capacities, ultimately as Chief Scientific Adviser from 1971 to 1974, before becoming Master of

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

, from 1973 to 1986,Masters of Jesus College
and Vice-Chancellor of the university in 1977–1979.

Death

Cottrell died on 15 February 2012 after a brief illness.

Awards and honours

*1955 Elected

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

*1961

Hughes Medal The Hughes Medal is a silver-gilt medal awarded by the Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. T ...

*1962 Francis J. Clamer Medal *1963 Royal Society Bakerian Medal *1965 He was the first to be awarded the A. A. Griffith Medal and Prize. *1967 James Alfred Ewing Medal. *1969

Fernand Holweck Medal and Prize The Fernand Holweck Medal and Prize is a major European prize for Physics awarded jointly every year by the British Institute of Physics (IOP) and the Société Française de Physique (SFP). It is one of the four Grand Prix of the SFP and one of ...

*1971 He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

. *1973 Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) from the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

. *1974 James Douglas Gold Medal *1982 Honorary doctorate from the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

*1991 Elected Member of

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

*1996

Copley Medal The Copley Medal is the most prestigious award of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom, conferred "for sustained, outstanding achievements in any field of science". The award alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the bio ...

(the Royal Society's highest award) He was a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

Selected books

* ''Theoretical Structural Metallurgy'' (1948) (E Arnold; 2nd Revised edition (1 January 1955)) () * ''Dislocations and Plastic Flows in Crystals'' (1953) () * ''Superconductivity'' (1964) (Harwood Academic (Medical, Reference and Social Sc; n edition (December 1964)) () * ''An Introduction to Metallurgy'' (1967) () * ''Portrait of Nature : the world as seen by modern science'' (1975) () * ''How Safe is Nuclear Energy?'' (1982) (Heinemann Educational Publishers (29 June 1981)) () * ''Concepts in the Electron Theory of Alloys'' (1998) ()

References

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 19 February 2012
Obituary
by Dr J.A. Charles
AIME James Douglas Gold Medal in 1974
Biography at The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cottrell, Alan Howard, Sir 1919 births 2012 deaths British metallurgists British physicists Fellows of the Royal Society Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Alumni of the University of Birmingham Academics of the University of Birmingham Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge Masters of Jesus College, Cambridge Knights Bachelor Recipients of the Copley Medal Chief Scientific Advisers to HM Government Chief Scientific Advisers to the Ministry of Defence Vice-chancellors of the University of Cambridge People educated at Moseley School Goldsmiths' Professors of Materials Science Members of Academia Europaea