Dr John Corner, (24 January 1916 – 22 July 1996) was a British

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

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 is best known for his work on the

interior ballistics Internal ballistics (also interior ballistics), a subfield of ballistics, is the study of the propulsion of a projectile. In guns, internal ballistics covers the time from the propellant's ignition until the projectile exits the gun barrel. The s ...

of guns and the

British hydrogen bomb programme The British hydrogen bomb programme was the ultimately successful British effort to develop hydrogen bombs between 1952 and 1958. During the early part of the Second World War, Britain had a nuclear weapons project, codenamed Tube Alloys. At the ...

Biography

John Corner was born in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, England, on 24 January 1916, the elder son of John and Elizabeth Corner. After his family's move to

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

he won a scholarship to Newcastle Royal Grammar School where he won a number of academic prizes. He specialised in mathematics and physics and was encouraged by his headmaster to apply for a Goldsmiths scholarship to allow him to attend university. He obtained this scholarship and went to Peterhouse College, Cambridge, where he was awarded firsts in Parts I and II of the Mathematical Tripos in 1937. He then went on to postgraduate study at the Mathematics Laboratory, Cambridge, under the then Director Professor John Lennard-Jones. He was awarded his PhD in 1946. At the outbreak of war in 1939 Lennard-Jones and his research team were taken over by the Ministry of Supply. Corner joined a group working on the interior ballistics of guns for the Ordance Board. In 1942 Lennard-Jones and his team were moved to the Armaments Research Department at Fort Halsted near Sevenoaks, Kent. There Corner worked with Dr. J.W.Maccoll with whom he published many papers on the

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, Work (thermodynamics), work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed b ...

and

thermochemistry Thermochemistry is the study of the heat energy which is associated with chemical reactions and/or phase changes such as melting and boiling. A reaction may release or absorb energy, and a phase change may do the same. Thermochemistry focuses on ...

of guns. After the war he wrote a textbook on the subject, ''Theory of the Interior Ballistics of Guns'', which was published in 1950 and became the standard text on the subject. Whilst at Fort Halsted Corner met Kathleen Thurston, a mathematics graduate and PA to Lennard-Jones. They married in 1945 and had a son and a daughter. In 1945 Corner and his colleague Herbert Pike were detailed to help Dr (later Baron) William Penney calculate the yields of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. Penney had been one of Britain's senior scientists at the American Los Alamos project in New Mexico and in 1947 Penney was directed to form a secret atomic research group inside Fort Halsted, named '

High Explosive Research High Explosive Research (HER) was the British project to develop atomic bombs independently after the Second World War. This decision was taken by a cabinet sub-committee on 8 January 1947, in response to apprehension of an American retur ...

' (HER). Penney considered Corner to be the best scientist on his staff and had no hesitation in recruiting him to lead the theoretical group. In 1947 Corner made the first of many research visits to the

Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in ...

. Corner received rapid promotion and in 1950 he reached the rank of Superintendent, becoming the youngest ever appointee to that grade. With Penney, Corner and Pike played a crucial role in the design of the British A-bomb introducing important modifications to a design based on the Nagasaki bomb. This was successfully tested in the

Operation Hurricane Operation Hurricane was the first test of a Nuclear weapons of the United Kingdom, British atomic device. A plutonium Nuclear weapon design#Implosion-type weapon, implosion device was detonated on 3 October 1952 in Main Bay, Trimouille Island ...

test off the Australian coast in October 1952. In 1953 Corner was transferred to the

Atomic Weapons Research Establishment } The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Researc ...

Aldermaston Aldermaston ( ) is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 census, the parish had a population of 1,015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basin ...

where he worked on the

holding the post of Head of Mathematical Physics until his retirement in 1975. One of the great challenges of Corner's career came with the Cabinet’s decision in 1954 to develop the H-bomb. Corner and his division had to lead the way into new scientific territory, meeting physical problems far more complex than those of A-bombs and with little computing power available for the endless calculations needed. As the calculation of the outcome of a nuclear explosion was a matter of repetitive calculation of a large number of sequential events and with hand calculating machines this could take many months, Corner set up a strong computer-orientated group who applied pressure on the computer companies such as

Ferranti Ferranti International PLC or simply Ferranti was a UK-based electrical engineering and equipment firm that operated for over a century, from 1885 until its bankruptcy in 1993. At its peak, Ferranti was a significant player in power grid system ...

and

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

to produce bigger and faster machines that could be used for these intensive calculations. The successful

Operation Grapple Operation Grapple was a set of four series of British nuclear weapons tests of early atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs carried out in 1957 and 1958 at Malden Island and Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in the Pa ...

tests at

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an States and territories of Australia#External territories, Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean comprising the island of the same name. It is about south o ...

in 1957 and 1958 not only provided a basis for a British nuclear deterrent but facilitated the signing of the 1958 Bilateral Treaty for Cooperation on Nuclear Weapons with the United States. The first exchanges under this treaty took place in September 1958 with Corner playing a leading role, which he maintained until his retirement. For his work on the hydrogen bomb Corner was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the 1958 Birthday Honours for his 'outstanding scientific ability, organising capacity and drive, and his exceptional contribution to the project'. Corner retired in 1975 after 36 years of government service. He then moved with his wife to

Dartmouth, Devon Dartmouth () is a town and civil parish in the England, English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the western bank of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes. It lies w ...

where he enjoyed 20 happy years of retirement. He died peacefully on 22 July 1996.

Notes

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corner, John 1916 births 1996 deaths Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English mathematicians English physicists People associated with the nuclear weapons programme of the United Kingdom People educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne