Alan Cottrell

{{Infobox scientist

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Sir Alan Cottrell

| honorific-suffix = FRS

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_date = 17 July 1919

| birth_place = Birmingham, Warwickshire (now West Midlands)

| death_date = {{death date and age|2012|2|15|1919|7|17|df=y}}

| death_place = Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

| residence =

| known_for = Cottrell atmosphere
Lomer–Cottrell junction
Crack tip opening displacement

| citizenship = British

| nationality = English

| fields = Metallurgist, Physicist

| workplaces =

| alma_mater = University of Birmingham

| prizes = Fellow of the Royal Society{{Cite journal | last1 = Smallman | first1 = R. E. | last2 = Knott | first2 = J. F. | title = Sir Alan Cottrell FRS FREng. 17 July 1919 – 15 February 2012 | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.2012.0042 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 59 | pages = 93–124 | year = 2013 | doi-access = free }}
Hughes Medal {{small|(1961)}}
Harvey Prize {{small|(1974)}}
Rumford Medal {{small|(1974)}}
Copley Medal {{small|(1996)}}

}}

File:Solvay conference 1951 g.jpg on Physics in Brussels 1951. Left to right, sitting: Crussaro, N.P. Allen, Cauchois, Borelius, Bragg, Moller, Sietz, Hollomon, Frank; middle row: Rathenau,^(nl) Koster, Rudberg,^(sv), Flamache, Goche, Groven, Orowan, Burgers, Shockley, Guinier, C.S. Smith, Dehlinger, Laval, Henriot; top row: Gaspart, Lomer, Cottrell, Homes, Curien]]

Sir Alan Howard Cottrell, FRS (17 July 1919 – 15 February 2012) was an English metallurgist and physicist. 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, where he gained a Bachelor of Science degree in 1939 and a PhD for research on welding in 1942.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ae-info.org/attach/User/Cottrell_Alan/CV/obituary-cottrell-by-charles.pdf|title=Sir Alan Howard Cottrell ScD, FRS, FREng, LLD (Hon)|last=Charles|first=J A|date=February 2012|website=Academia Europaea|access-date=19 December 2017}}

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.[http://www.eng.bham.ac.uk/metallurgy/history.shtml 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.

From 1958 to 1965 Cottrell was Goldsmiths' Professor of Metallurgy at Cambridge University, 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,Scientists in Whitehall

by Philip Gummett p49, available at [https://books.google.com/books?id=N0W8AAAAIAAJ Google books] before becoming Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, from 1973 to 1986,[http://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/college/history/masters.html Masters of Jesus College] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090705081206/http://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/college/history/masters.html |date=5 July 2009 }} and Vice-Chancellor of the university in 1977–1979.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Cottrell_Alan|title=Alan Cottrell|last=Kaiser Danner|date=24 July 2017|website=Academia Europaea|access-date=19 December 2017}}

Death

Cottrell died on 15 February 2012 after a brief illness.{{cite web|url=http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/news/pg/article==340|title=Sir Alan Cottrell FRS – Christs College Cambridge|access-date=12 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120527174008/http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/news/pg/article==340|archive-date=27 May 2012|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}

Awards and honours

1955 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/mar/18/sir-alan-cottrell|title=Sir Alan Cottrell obituary|last=Knott|first=John|date=2012-03-18|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-12-19|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}
1961 Hughes Medal[http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1770 Hughes archive winners 1989 – 1902] Royal Society
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.{{Citation needed|date=December 2017}}
1967 James Alfred Ewing Medal.The International Who's Who 2004
1969 Fernand Holweck Medal and Prize
1971 He was knighted.
1973 Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) from the University of Bath.{{cite web|url=http://www.bath.ac.uk/ceremonies/hongrads/older.html|title=Corporate Information|access-date=12 January 2017|archive-date=25 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160525041553/http://www.bath.ac.uk/ceremonies/hongrads/older.html|url-status=dead}}
1974 James Douglas Gold Medal{{Cite web|url=http://www.aimehq.org/programs/award/bio/sir-alan-howard-cottrell-0|title=Sir Alan Howard Cottrell|website=American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers|access-date=19 December 2017|archive-date=22 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922193829/http://www.aimehq.org/programs/award/bio/sir-alan-howard-cottrell-0|url-status=dead}}
1982 Honorary doctorate from the University of Essex
1991 Elected Member of Academia Europaea{{Cite web |title=Cottrell Alan |url=https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Cottrell_Alan |access-date=2025-01-15 |website=Academy of Europe}}
1996 Copley Medal (the Royal Society's highest award)[http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1741 Copley recent winners: 1990 – present day] Royal Society[http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/themes/93/93188.html Holders of the Copley medal (1731–2005)] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press 2004

He was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.{{cite web|url=http://www.kva.se/KVA_Root/eng/contact/searchcontacts/detail.asp?PersonID=996|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814065557/http://www.kva.se/KVA_Root/eng/contact/searchcontacts/detail.asp?PersonID=996|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 August 2017|title=The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: Alan Cottrell|access-date=1 May 2009}}

Selected books

Theoretical Structural Metallurgy (1948) (E Arnold; 2nd Revised edition (1 January 1955)) ({{ISBN|0713120436}})
Dislocations and Plastic Flows in Crystals (1953) ({{Isbn|978-0198512066}})
Superconductivity (1964) (Harwood Academic (Medical, Reference and Social Sc; n edition (December 1964)) ({{ISBN|0677000650}})
An Introduction to Metallurgy (1967) ({{Isbn|978-0901716934}})
Portrait of Nature : the world as seen by modern science (1975) ({{ISBN|978-0684143552}})
How Safe is Nuclear Energy? (1982) (Heinemann Educational Publishers (29 June 1981)) ({{ISBN|0435541757}})
Concepts in the Electron Theory of Alloys (1998) ({{ISBN|978-1861250759}})

References

External links

[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/searchresults.asp?SearchInit=0&txtsearchterm=Alan+Cottrell&txtfirstdate=&txtlastdate=&txtrestriction=&hdnsorttype=Reference&image1.x=23&image1.y=11&image1=GO The National Archives] lists his reports
[http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=021M-C1379X0046XX-0001V0.xml Listen to an oral history interview with Sir Alan Cottrell] – a life story interview recorded for [http://www.bl.uk/historyofscience An Oral History of British Science] at the British Library
[https://web.archive.org/web/20130727061723/http://www3.christs.cam.ac.uk/cms_misc/media/TributetoSirAlanCottrell.pdf Tribute] by Prof Peter Hirsch
[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/science-obituaries/9092248/Sir-Alan-Cottrell.html Obituary], The Daily Telegraph, 19 February 2012
[https://web.archive.org/web/20131107042858/http://www.msm.cam.ac.uk/news/photos/obituary-cottrell-by-charles.pdf Obituary] by Dr J.A. Charles
[http://www.aimehq.org/programs/award/bio/sir-alan-howard-cottrell-0 AIME James Douglas Gold Medal in 1974] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922193829/http://www.aimehq.org/programs/award/bio/sir-alan-howard-cottrell-0 |date=22 September 2020 }} Biography at The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers.

{{succession box | before = Sir Solly Zuckerman | title = Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government | years = 1971–1974 | after = Robert Press}}

{{succession box|title=Master of Jesus College, Cambridge|years=1973–1986|before=Sir Denys Page|after=Colin Renfrew}}

{{succession box|title=Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge|before=Dame Rosemary Murray|after=Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer|years=1977–1979}}

Category:1919 births

Category:2012 deaths

Category:British metallurgists

Category:British physicists

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences

Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Category:Alumni of the University of Birmingham

Category:Academics of the University of Birmingham