Sir Alan Cottrell

Sir Alan Cottrell was an English metallurgist and physicist, former Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government and vice-chancellor of Cambridge University 1977-1979. He joined the staff at Birmingham as a lecturer, being made professor in 1949, and transforming the teaching of the department by emphasising modern concepts of solid state physics. In 1955 he moved to A.E.R.E. Harwell, to become Deputy Head of Metallurgy under Monty Finniston. In 1955, Sir Cottrell was also elected as a Fellow...See more

Sir Alan Cottrell was an English metallurgist and physicist, former Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government and vice-chancellor of Cambridge University 1977-1979. He joined the staff at Birmingham as a lecturer, being made professor in 1949, and transforming the teaching of the department by emphasising modern concepts of solid state physics. In 1955 he moved to A.E.R.E. Harwell, to become Deputy Head of Metallurgy under Monty Finniston. In 1955, Sir Cottrell was also elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. From 1958 to 1965, he 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, before becoming Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, from 1973 to 1986, and Vice-Chancellor of the University in 1977-1979. See less