Alan Cottrell

Sir Alan Howard Cottrell, FRS[1] (17 July 1919 – 15 February 2012) was an English metallurgist and physicist.

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.

[2] 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.

[3] 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,[4] before becoming Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, from 1973 to 1986,[5] and Vice-Chancellor of the university in 1977–1979.