Sherard Osborn Cowper-Coles (8 October 1866 – 9 September 1936) was a British

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 inventor of the sherardising process of

galvanization Galvanization ( also spelled galvanisation) is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are coated by submerging them in a bath of ...

Early life

He was born in

Ventnor Ventnor () is a seaside resort town and civil parishes in England, civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, from Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface D ...

, the fourth son of naval inventor Captain

Cowper Phipps Coles Captain Cowper Phipps Coles (1819 – 7 September 1870), was an English naval captain with the Royal Navy. Coles was also an inventor; in 1859, he was the first to patent a design for a revolving gun turret. Upon appealing for public support, ...

. He studied at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

and Crystal Palace School of Engineering and became a metallurgist.

Career

He took out a patent on the sherardising process in 1900. Cowper-Coles married his research assistant Constance Hamilton Watts in 1919. The couple continued to work on research together until his death. They had three sons, the eldest of whom, Sherard, was the father of British diplomat

Sherard Cowper-Coles Sir Sherard Louis Cowper-Coles ( ; born 8 January 1955) is a British former diplomat. He was the Foreign Secretary's Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2009–2010. After leaving the Foreign Office, he worked briefly for ...

Death

He died at home, at Rossall House in

Sunbury-on-Thames Sunbury-on-Thames, known locally as Sunbury, is a town on the north bank of the River Thames in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, England, southwest of central London. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, in 1965 Sunbury and other su ...

, of

oesophageal cancer Esophageal cancer (American English) or oesophageal cancer (British English) is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Ot ...

, survived by his wife and three sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowper-Coles, Sherard Osborn 1936 deaths 1866 births Alumni of King's College London People from Ventnor British metallurgists