John Horlock

Sir John Horlock FRS FREng
Born	(1928-04-19)19 April 1928 Edmonton, Middlesex
Died	22 May 2015(2015-05-22)
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Sheila Stutely (m. 1953)
Children	Alison, Tim, Jane
Parent(s)	Harold and Olive Horlock
Engineering career
Engineering discipline	Turbomachinery
Institution memberships	University of Liverpool University of Salford Whittle Laboratory, 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 as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering

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.

File:Harlock Building at Open University Campus in Milton Keynes, spring 2013 (2).JPG

The Horlock Building, named after John Horlock, Open University's Walton Hall Campus, Milton Keynes.

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

• 1980 received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University
• 1996 He was given a knighthood in the 1996 New Year Honours, for services to science, engineering and education.
• 2001 James Alfred Ewing Medal from the Institute of Civil Engineers

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.

External links

• John Horlock, History of the Open University
• The AOUG Sir John Horlock Award for Science, Association of Open University Graduates (AOUG)
• Whittle Laboratory, Cambridge University Engineering Department
• School of Engineering, Liverpool University
• Mechanical Engineering, School of Computing, Science and Engineering, University of Salford, Greater Manchester