Nationality British Died May 22, 2015 Name John Horlock | Children Alison, Tim, Jane | |
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Born 19 April 1928 ( 1928-04-19 ) Edmonton, Middlesex Spouse(s) Sheila Stutely (m. 1953) Parent(s) Harold and Olive Horlock Institution memberships University of Liverpool, University of Salford, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge Books Advanced Gas Turbine C, Combined Power Plants, Cogeneration‑‑combined heat and power, Actuator disk theory, Axial Flow Compressors: Fluid Mec | ||
Engineering discipline Turbomachinery Education University of Cambridge | ||
Sir John Harold Horlock FRS FREng (19 April 1928 - 22 May 2015), was a British professor of mechanical engineering, and was Vice-Chancellor of both the Open University and the University of Salford, as well as Vice-President of the Royal Society. He was elected in 1977 a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
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Education and early life
Horlock was raised in North London and attended The Latymer School, Edmonton. He went from there to St John's College, Cambridge where he gained his PhD in 1958.
Career
In spite of a job offer by Rolls-Royce, Horlock accepted the role of Professor and Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at University of Liverpool.
He returned to Cambridge as Professor of Engineering in 1967, and in 1973 he founded the department's Whittle Laboratory, also becoming its Director.
In 1981 Horlock began working for the Open University. Whilst there he tackled the government over spending cuts, introduced a taught postgraduate masters programme, and expanded the OU.
Following his retirement he was treasurer and later vice-president of the Royal Society.
Research
Horlock's main area of research is turbomachinery, particularly gas turbines, compressors and Jet engines.
Honours and awards
Horlock won numerous awards including:
The Horlock building on the Open University's Walton Hall campus was named in his honour in 1989, and the Association of Open University Graduates' Sir John Horlock Award for Science was established two years later in 1991.