Harry Atkinson (physicist)
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5 August 1929
Harry Atkinson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Harry Hindmarsh Atkinson 5 August 1929 Wellington, New Zealand |
| Died | 30 December 2018 (aged 89) Oxfordshire, England |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Spouse |
Anne Barrett (m. 1958) |
| Children | Three |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Atomic Energy Research Establishment Rutherford Laboratory Cabinet Office Science Research Council |
| Thesis | Small angle scattering of X-rays and neutrons from metals (1959) |
| Doctoral advisor | Neville Mott |
| Relatives | Harry Atkinson (grandfather) Arthur Atkinson (great-uncle) Maria Atkinson (great-aunt) Torchy Atkinson (cousin) Monica Brewster (cousin) |
Harry Hindmarsh Atkinson (5 August 1929 – 30 December 2018) was a British physicist and science administrator.[1] He served as chair of the European Space Agency Council between 1984 and 1987.
Born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 5 August 1929, Atkinson was the son of Constance Hindmarsh Atkinson (née Shields) and Harry Temple Atkinson, who served as head of the New Zealand Patent Office.[2] His paternal grandfather was Harry Atkinson, who had been prime minister of New Zealand on four occasions between 1876 and 1891.[2] The family moved to Nelson when Atkinson was 12 years old, and he was educated at Nelson College from 1942 to 1947.[2][3]
Atkinson was influenced to study science by Thomas Easterfield, and graduated from Canterbury University College with a Master of Science with first-class honours in physics in 1953.[2][4] He then began doctoral studies at Cornell University in the United States in 1954, but moved to the University of Cambridge and the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) under Neville Mott 18 months later, completing his PhD in 1959.[2][5] The title of his thesis was Small angle scattering of X-rays and neutrons from metals.[6]
In 1958, Atkinson married Anne Barrett in Cambridge, and the couple went on to have three children.[2]