John Cockcroft

@Physicists, Family and Childhood

John Cockcroft was a British Physicist who shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ernest Walton for their work on splitting the atomic nucleus

May 27, 1897

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Biography

Personal Details

  • Birthday: May 27, 1897
  • Died on: September 18, 1967
  • Nationality: British
  • Famous: University Of Manchester, Scientists, Physicists
  • Known as: Sir John Douglas Cockcroft
  • Universities:
    • University Of Manchester
    • St John's College
    • Cambridge
    • University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
    • Victoria University of Manchester
    • University of Cambridge
    • University of Manchester
  • Notable Alumnis:
    • University Of Manchester

John Cockcroft born at

Todmorden

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Birth Place

John Cockcroft married Eunice Elizabeth Crabtree in 1925. The couple had five children; four daughters and a son.

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Personal Life

He died on 18 September 1967, at the age of 70, in Cambridge, England.

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Personal Life

John Douglas Cockcroft was born on 27 May 1897, in Todmorden, England, to John Arthur Cockcroft and his wife Annie Marie Cockcroft. His father, like his ancestors, was the owner of a cotton mill. John Cockcroft had three brothers.

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Childhood & Early Life

He attended the Todmorden Secondary School in his home town for a period of five years starting from 1909. At that school, he was taught by Luke Sutcliffe, a teacher of physics at the school who also went on to teach Nobel Laureate Geoffrey Wilkinson.

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Childhood & Early Life

In 1914, he enrolled in Manchester University to study mathematics but after a year he had to contribute towards the war effort in relation to the First World War. He served in the capacity of a signaller at the Royal Field Artillery and returned only after he had rendered services for three years.

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Childhood & Early Life

In 1918, he returned to Manchester after serving in the Royal Field Artillery and the following year enrolled in the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to study electrical engineering. After studying engineering for a year, he did an apprenticeship at Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company.

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Childhood & Early Life

John Cockcroft won the prestigious 1851 Exhibition Scholarship awarded by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 and went to study at St John’s College, University of Cambridge.

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Career

He studied mathematics and in 1924, took the Mathematical Tripos. Subsequently, he started working under Lord Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory.

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Career

In 1928, he started working on a series of experiments on acceleration of protons by high voltages. Soon, he was joined by another researcher Ernest Walton.

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Career

His experiments, in collaboration with Walton, on splitting the nucleus of an atom with the help of bombardments with protons were successful and in 1932 they demonstrated the phenomenon by performing the experiments on lithium atoms. Their experiments confirmed the existing theories on the theories on atomic structure and also showed that the nucleus of an atom could be changed in the laboratory.

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Career

He continued his research on the splitting of atoms and in 1933 he was successful in producing radioactivity with the aid of protons. In the same year, he conducted a thorough research on the different sorts of transmutations that protons and deuterons can produce. The following year was appointed as the head of the Royal Society Mond Laboratory in Cambridge.

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Career

His most significant work in a career that saw him hold many responsible positions in the scientific sphere is without doubt the series of experiments with Walton that successfully split the nucleus of atoms. He shared the Nobel Prize for the same.

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Major Works