1897-1967. British physicist. In 1932 he and
the Irish physicist Ernest Walton succeeded
in splitting the nucleus of an atom for the
first time. In 1951 they were jointly awarded
a Nobel prize. Born in Todmorden, W
Yorkshire, Cockcroft held an engineering
appointment with Metropolitan-Vickers, and
took up research work under Ernest Rutherford
at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. He
succeeded Edward Appleton as Jacksonian
professor of natural philosophy, Cambridge
(1939-46), and worked on the atom bomb during
World War II. He was director at Harwell
atomic research establishment 1946-58.