Obituary - Prof Emeritus John Atkinson CEng FIMMM
John Atkinson was a respected voice in cracking then later moved into academia where he advocated for quality research and supervised PhD students.
Prof Emeritus John Atkinson CEng FIMMM
10 August 1946 – 20 February 2023
John was born in Kingston-upon-Hull, in Yorkshire, UK, and attended Hull Grammar School. He then studied metallurgy at Aston University, Birmingham, UK, obtaining a BSc Hons degree. An MSc course in physics of materials at Bristol University, UK, was followed by a CEGB sponsored PhD at The Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK. His thesis was on the ‘Fatigue Mechanisms in Copper Single Crystals’.
On completion in 1973 he was invited to apply for a Research Officer position in the Materials Division at the CEGB research laboratories in Leatherhead, Surrey, UK, (known as CERL). He worked there, on a variety of power plant problems associated with cracking, for nearly 20 years, until privatisation of the electricity supply industry in the late 80s led to a move to academia when he took a professorial post in the engineering department at Sheffield City Polytechnic, UK.
He was a member of the International Co-operative Group on Environmentally Assisted Cracking (ICGEAC) from 1978 to 2008 (whilst at CERL, NPTEC and Sheffield Hallam University) and spent nine years as Chair of the Low Alloy Steels (LAS) Task Group, with duties on the Executive Committee.
Sheffield City Polytechnic were granted a University charter to become Sheffield Hallam University in 1993 and John was able to transfer some of his equipment at this time as CERL was also closed down in 1993 by National Power. At Sheffield Hallam he had a busy life, developing teaching material on up to 15 modules at BEng, and MSc level, as well as carrying out contract research on cracking issues for the relocated power companies.
Over a period of 15 years he generated a research/consultancy income of £1m and helped to boost the 2001 RAE rating in materials from 3a to 5 of the university, equal at that time to Imperial College. He supervised 6 PhD students to completion and, during Science Week, gave several public lectures in Sheffield on Nuclear Power issues.
John retired in 2015 and ceased his consultancy work with the Power industries to pursue his hobby of restoring rusty old Porsche 356 cars and to spend time with his family – wife Sue, children Jane and Neil and five grandchildren.
Jane Gough (John’s daughter)