John Edwin Midwinter

{{Infobox scientist

| honorific_prefix = Professor

| name = John Edwin Midwinter

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE|FRS|FREng|size=100%}}

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1938|3|8|df=y}}

| birth_place = Newbury, Berkshire, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|11|13|1938|3|8|df=y}}

| death_place = Ipswich, Suffolk, England

| nationality = British

| field = Optical communications

| work_institution = University College London, UK
IET, UK

| alma_mater = KCL, UK

| doctoral_advisor =

| doctoral_students =

| known_for = Optical Communications

| prizes = {{no wrap|IET Faraday Medal (1997)
IET JJ Thomson Medal (1987)
Clifford Paterson Medal (1983)
FRS (1985)
FREng (1984)}}

| religion =

| footnotes =

}}

John Edwin Midwinter (8 March 1938 – 13 November 2021) was a British electrical engineer and professor, who was President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (now IET) from 2000 to 2001.

Education

He was educated at St Bartholomew's School, King's College London (BSc Physics, 1961) and the University of London (PhD, 1968).‘MIDWINTER, Prof. John Edwin’, Who's Who 2016, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2016

Career

From the 1970s, John's research centred on optical fibre communications, and he led the speedy deployment of optical communications infrastructure in the UK while at British Telecom.{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/john-midwinter-11950/|title=Biography of John E Midwinter, The Royal Society}} He was subsequently the BT Professor of Optoelectronics at University College London from 1984 to 1991 and Pender Professor of Electronic Engineering from 1991 to 2004, and was Vice Provost from 1994 to 1999. He was subsequently made an Emeritus Professor there.{{cite web|title=Lighting the way to a revolution|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4671788.stm|website=BBC News|accessdate=15 March 2016}} He was also a member of the Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology Advisory Board.{{cite web|url=http://www.theiet.org/events/lecture-histories/presidents-address/2000-midwinter-flyer.cfm|title=President's Inaugural Address, The IET, 2000.}} He was President of IEE (now IET) UK in 2000.{{cite web|title=Past Presidents of IET, UK|url=https://www.theiet.org/publishing/library-archives/the-iet-archives/iet-history/past-presidents/past-presidents-of-the-iee/}}

Awards

He was made an OBE and elected to Fellow {{cite web|url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows?fa=m&p=4|title=List of Fellows, Royal Academy of Engineering UK}} of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1984 and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1985. He delivered the Clifford Paterson Lecture{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/john-midwinter-11950/|title=Royal Society Clifford Paterson Medal and Lecture}} of the Royal Society in 1983 and was awarded the IEE JJ Thomson Medal {{cite web|url=http://conferences.theiet.org/achievement/-documents/jjthomson-medal-winners.cfm|title=Recipients of IET JJ Thomson Medal, The IET UK.}} in 1987 and the Faraday Medal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1997. He was awarded Honorary Doctorates {{cite web|url=http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/publicity/degree_days/degree_2001/midwinter.html|title=Degree Speech - Honorary Doctorate for Professor John E Midwinter}} from Nottingham University in 2000, Loughborough University in 2001 & Queens University Belfast in 2004, UK. In 2000 he presented the Bernard Price Memorial Lecture. In 2002, he was awarded the IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award.{{cite web|url=https://www.ieee.org/about/awards/bios/sumner_recipients.html#sect16|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130112210801/http://www.ieee.org/about/awards/bios/sumner_recipients.html#sect16|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 January 2013|title=Recipients of IEEE Eric Sumner Award.|website=Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)}}

Personal life

Midwinter died on 13 November 2021, at the age of 83.[https://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/253663/professor-john-edwin-midwinter Professor John Edwin Midwinter death notice]