Sir John Edwin Enderby CBE FRS FInstP[1] (16 January 1931 – 3 August 2021) was a British physicist, and was Professor of Physics at University of Bristol from 1976 to 1996.
His research has particularly advanced our understanding of the structure of multicomponent liquids— those made up of two or more types of atoms – including commonly used liquid alloys and glasses.
[1][5] Enderby was educated at Chester Grammar School[2] and the University of London where he was awarded Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees.
[6] Enderby’s techniques mean that the relative positions of the various types of atomic nuclei can be deduced from diffraction patterns arising from the quantum wavelike scattering of the neutrons.
His work includes the surprise discovery that aqueous solutions — important in biology as the environment for an organism’s chemical reactions — have a quasi-lattice structure.