William Cochran

1922 - 2003

Physicist. Born on a farm near Newton Mearns (East Renfrewshire), Cochran was educated at Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh and the University in the city. He was part of a team in Cambridge which did much to lay the foundations of modern crystallography. Cochran undertook much pioneering work which underpinned the Nobel prizes won by others; he advised Francis Crick on X-ray crystallography which led to the discovery of the structure of DNA and assisted Bertram Brockhouse by developing a new model for crystal dynamics while on a sabbatical year in Canada.

Cochran was appointed to the Chair in Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh in 1964 and established a research group in condensed matter physics which remains important internationally. He reorganised the old Department of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh into a modern Department of Physics, becoming its head in 1975. He also served as Vice Principal of the University (1984-7).

Cochran was a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, winning the Hughes Medal from the former in 1978.

Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry