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Sir John Douglas Cockcroft was a physicist and engineer. He was born on 27 May 1897 in Langfield, Yorkshire, to John Arthur Cockcroft and Annie Maude Fielden.
Cockcroft was educated at Todmorden secondary school from 1909 and he went with a scholarship to the University of Manchester in 1914 to study mathematics. He volunteered for war service in 1915 and spent three years as a signaller in the Royal Field Artillery. He returned to Manchester in 1919 to the College of Technology, where he gained a first-class BScTechn. in 1920. He was then accepted as a college apprentice in engineering by the Metropolitan-Vickers Company. He then won a scholarship at St John's College to read mathematics.
In 1925 Cockcroft married (Eunice) Elizabeth Crabtree whom he had known since childhood. Their first child, a boy, died at two years. Subsequently they had four daughters and then a son.
Cockcroft was recommended to Edward Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, and he was accepted as a research student supported by a foundation scholarship from St John's College, a state scholarship, and a further grant from Vickers. He gained his PhD in 1928. At Rutherford’s request, Cockcroft joined up with E.T.S. Watson. In April 1932 their proton beam was directed on to a lithium target and bright scintillations were observed. They were shown to be due to helium atoms. By developing a high voltage high energy beam, the atom had been disintegrated, transformed, and the whole scientific world realized that a new era of nuclear physics had arrived.
Outside of his laboratory work, in 1933 Cockcroft had been appointed junior bursar of St John's College responsible for the buildings, some of which had been neglected for years. The gatehouse of the college was partly taken down to replace roof damage and destruction by death-watch beetles; two new courts were built and rewiring done. In 1935 Cockcroft took over direction of the Mond Laboratory; a new wing of the Cavendish Laboratory. In 1936 Cockcroft was elected FRS, and in 1939 he was elected to the Jacksonian professorship in natural philosophy just as he was becoming increasingly involved with efforts being made in technical fields to prepare for war with Hitler's Germany.
Sir H. T. Tizard spoke confidentially to Cockcroft early in 1938 about RDF, the highly secret radio technique for finding aircraft. Cockcroft played a major role in persuading about eighty physicists to spend a month at various coastal radar defence stations, and he also persuaded a number of leading physicists to participate in the RDF project. Some of these scientists made major advances in radar and Cockcroft's part was one of his greatest contributions to the war effort.
Cockcroft became chief superintendent of the Air Defence Research and Development Establishment at Christchurch in late 1940. Radar was then being applied to direct anti-aircraft gunnery upon unseen targets. Coastal defence radar and radar for combat use by the army to detect moving vehicles and tanks in the darkness were other major projects he undertook.
Cockcroft was assigned to Canada in 1944 to take charge of the Montreal laboratory, and then to build the NRX heavy water reactor at Chalk River. His calm but energetic direction gave the laboratory a firm sense of purpose. The nuclear explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought the war to an abrupt end, but the nuclear work continued. The Canadians wanted Cockcroft to stay but he was wanted at home to direct the new establishment which was being built at Harwell for atomic energy research. Cockcroft commuted for a while and did both jobs but he then moved full-time to Harwell in 1946.
Cockcroft's name and the excitement of atomic energy attracted many able people of all ages to work at Harwell. Work on pressurized gas-cooled reactors made it possible in 1953 to base the production of additional plutonium on dual-purpose reactors to be built at Calder Hall. The justification was primarily military, but for the first time the vision of cheap nuclear power began to have a practical endorsement. The government decided in 1954 to take the responsibility for atomic energy from the Ministry of Supply and create the Atomic Energy Authority (AEA). Cockcroft became the first member for research, while also remaining director of Harwell.
In December 1954 a technical conference was held under the auspices of the United Nations on the peaceful uses of atomic energy. An advisory committee from seven countries was formed and Cockcroft was chosen as the British representative. This conference, held at Geneva in August 1955, was a political event of outstanding importance which might have heralded the end of the cold war. Scientists from the communist countries fraternized so easily with those from the west, that, just as they shared science, they thought there must be a way to share political philosophies. Scientifically it was an enormous success. Cockcroft was able to invite I. Kurchatov, of the USSR, to give a lecture at Harwell on a subject (fusion research) which only a few months earlier was regarded as extremely secret.
Cockcroft gathered much of the British work on fusion research at Harwell and the major project was the torroidal discharge machine called ZETA which was a major step forward in fusion research. Cockcroft was able to give a great deal of help and encouragement to the Medical Research Council in their work on radiological protection. His influence led to the creation of the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory. He was also closely concerned with the early years of CERN.
Cockcroft resigned as a full-time member of the AEA in 1959 but remained a part-time member and moved to Cambridge to become the first master of the new Churchill College, having been nominated by Sir Winston Churchill himself. Cambridge had accepted the offer of finance for a college which would have nearly as many advanced scientists and fellows as undergraduates, all living in college. Churchill was gratified that this college would bear his name, and Cockcroft was about the most famous scientist or engineer in Britain at that time.
Alongside his duties as Master of Churchill College, Cockcroft represented Britain in the conference which in due course led to the signing of the test ban treaty relating to atomic weapons. He supported the Pugwash conferences on science and world affairs, and was their president in 1967.
Cockcroft received many honorary degrees, awards, and honours, the three principal being the Order of Merit (1957), the Nobel prize for physics, jointly with E. T. S. Walton (1951), and the atoms for peace award (1961). He was appointed CBE in 1944, knight bachelor in 1948, and KCB in 1953. Cockcroft wrote few scientific papers, but from 1935 devoted his outstanding ability to organizing and administering research in science and technology. Cockcroft died on 18 September 1967 at Churchill College. On 17 October a service of memorial and thanksgiving was held in Westminster Abbey.

Robert Jenkin was born c.1656 on the Isle of Thanet, Kent, and was the son of Thomas and Mary Jenkin. He was educated at the King's School Canterbury, before matriculating at St John's College, Cambridge in 1674. He obtained his BA in 1678, after which he was admitted to a fellowship on the foundress's foundation in March 1680, and achieved his MA 1681. Retaining his fellowship, he entered holy orders and was initially presented to the vicarage of Waterbeach, Cambridge (1680-89), before moving to become chaplain to Bishop John Lake. Lake then collated him to the precentorship of Chichester Cathedral in 1688. He was a controversial figure, who opposed King James' ecclesiastical policy and supported the Nonjuring Schism. In 1691 Jenkin relinquished his preferments, but was able to retain his college fellowship. In 1696 he published his most successful work, The Reasonableness and Certainty of the Christian Religion. Upon the death of Henry Gower in 1711, Jenkin became the Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, as well as Master of St John's College. New legislation in 1715 led to a vote being taken in 1717, which forced Jenkin to remove the Nonjuring fellows from the College, for which he was heavily criticised by his Nonjuring contemporaries. He died on 7 April 1727, whilst living with his brother, Henry Jenkin, at the rectory in South Runcton, Norfolk. He was buried in Holme Chapel in South Runcton, where a mural monument with a Latin inscription was erected to his memory.

Academic and historian, who specialized in modern British and Irish history. Jeffery obtained his BA, MA and doctorate from St. John's College, before going on to later hold positions at Ulster University and Queen's University, Belfast. He became Professor of British History at Queen's University in 2005.
For a detailed obituary, see The Eagle (2016), p.123.

John Frederick Isaacson was born in 1801. He was the second son of Reverend John Isaacson, the Rector of Lydgate, Suffolk and a fellow Johnian. Isaacson was educated at Norwich school, and then matriculated at St John’s in 1821. He graduated BA Senior Classic in 1825, also receiving the 1st Chancellor’s medal, before achieving the Bachelor of Divinity in 1835. In the same year that he achieved his BA, Isaacson was ordained deacon in Ely, and priest the following year. Around this time, he was also elected Fellow and Tutor of the college. As well as this, he also received the remarkable compliment of the post as a Lecturer of King’s College from 1829-1839.
In 1838, Isaacson became the rector of Freshwater, Isle of Wight, where he spent the rest of his life. He married Rebecca Stokes in 1840, and had two sons.
Isaacson died on the 19th August, 1886.
Obituary in The Eagle: Vol. 14, 1886, p. 236.
Accessible online at: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Eagle/Eagle%20Volumes/1880s/1887/Eagle_1886_Michaelmas.pdf

Giovanni Battista Cybo (or ‘Cibo’) was born in Genoa to an eminent Genoese family. His father, Arano Cybo (c.1375-c.1455) was viceroy of Naples and Giovanni Battista was consequently closely aligned with the Neapolitan court for a good part of his early life. He was consecrated as Bishop of Savona in 1467 by Pope Paul II and was made a cardinal by Pope Sixtus IV in 1473. When Pope Sixtus died in 1484, Giovanni Battista succeeded him as Pope Innocent VIII until his own death in 1492.

Matric. at St. John's College, Michaelmas 1895: B.A. 1899, M.A. 1905. Served as College Missioner and Vicar of the Lady Margaret Church, Walworth, 1905-1912.

The Reverend John Hymers was born in Omersby, Cleveland in July 1803, where his father occupied a farm on an estate. He was elected to Sizar and matriculated at St John’s in 1822; graduated Second Wrangler in 1826, before being elected Fellow a year later. He was appointed Moderator in the University in 1833 and 1834, and Lady Margaret’s Preacher in 1841. Alongside this, at St John’s he became Assistant Tutor in 1829, Tutor in 1832, and President in 1848.
He was well known for being a strong teacher and getting the best out of his pupils academically. He authored several works on mathematics throughout his lifetime.
Hymers was elected to the Rectory of Brandsburton in Holderness in 1852, where he remained until his death in 1887.
On his death he bequeathed a large sum of money for the foundation of a Grammar School in Hull, to enable academically gifted pupils from any background to receive an education. This led to the foundation of Hymers College in 1893, and is still in existence today.

Obituary in The Eagle: Vol 14, 1887, p398

John Hussey was born in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, and was the son of Sir William Hussey (1443-1495), Chief Justice of the King’s Bench. He was first knighted in 1497 at the Battle of Blackheath and was subsequently promoted to Knight Banneret by Henry VIII at Tournai on 16 August 1513, following a string of other appointments, including Sheriff of Lincolnshire (1493); Comptroller of the Household (1509); and custos rotulorum (1513).

Hussey served as Chief Butler of England from 1521 until his death in 1536/7. He was also Chamberlain to King Henry VIII’s daughter, Mary I of England, and a member of the House of Lords. He was elected as a knight of the shire for Lincolnshire and as Member of Parliament on 6 July 1523. In 1529, he was created Lord Hussey of Sleaford by King Henry VIII.

Hussey was implicated in the 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace and accused of conspiracy against the king. Tried on the charge of treason, he was found guilty by the House of Lords and executed at Lincoln in 1536.

Student and subsequent fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Ordained in 1744 and appointed preacher at Lincoln's Inn in 1765, archdeacon of Gloucester in 1767. Hurd became bishop of Lichfield and Coventry in 1774, and was selected in 1776 to be tutor to the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York. From 1781 until his death in 1808, he served as Bishop of Worcester, residing chiefly at Hartlebury Castle.

Author, naturalist, and ornithologist. A founding member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

Robert Leslie Howland was born in 1905 to Robert Howland and Mary Helen Turner in Watford. In 1913 the family moved to New York, where he attended the Noble School, before returning to Great Britain to attend a Preparatory School in Dundee, followed by Shrewsbury School.
He matriculated at St John’s in 1924 to read Classics, and graduated BA in 1928. He taught briefly at Eton College, before returning to St John’s after being elected to the Fellowship on 1929. He remained a Fellow the rest of his life. He was appointed Tutor in 1932, and began lecturing at the Classical Faculty two years later. He became a Faculty Assistant Lecturer in 1936 and a University Lecturer in 1938. After serving in the Second World War, he returned to the College and became Senior Proctor 1951-52, Senior Tutor in 1956, and was elected President in 1963. Howland served as Warden of Madingley Hall, succeeding Edward Miller, in 1965 and remained in that post until his retirement in 1975.
Howland was an accomplished shot-putter, having competed for the British National Athletic Team from 1927 to 1939, and representing Great Britain at the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928. In 1950, he won the Cambridgeshire title aged 45.
Howland died in 1986 age 80 leaving two sons and one daughter.

Obituary in The Eagle: Vol 71, 1987, p55
Accessible online at: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Eagle/Eagle%20Volumes/1980s/Eagle_1987.pdf

Richard Howland was admitted as a pensioner at Christ's College on 18 March 1558 but migrated to SJC. He graduated B.A. in 1561. He was elected to the felllowship of Peterhouse in 1562 and proceeded to M.A. in 1564. In 1569, he was presented to the rectory of Stathern, Leicestershire by the Master and fellows of Peterhouse. He was appointed Master of Magdalene College by Lord Burghley in 1576. Howland was tipped to replace John Whitgift as master of Trinity upon Whitgift's resignation but the crown had already selected John Still to replace Whitgift. Howland was chosen to take Still's place as the head of St John's.

He was admitted Master 20 July 1577, finding a college full of religious dissensions but with new statutes. The choice of a successor threatened to involve the college in a fierce internal struggle and it was arranged that Howland should continue to hold the mastership with his bishopric (Peterborough); he resigned in February 1586.

Matric. at St. John's College, Michaelmas 1900: B.A. 1903, M.A. 1907. Hebrew Lecturer at St. John's College, 1906-1920, and Precentor and Hebrew Lecturer at Trinity College, 1907-1920. Showed sustained interest in missionary work, serving first as Assistant Missioner of Wellington College Mission, Walworth, 1905-1906, then as Treasurer of the St. John's College Mission, c.1908-1909. How later became Diocesan Missioner of Manchester, 1924-1926.