John Edwin Midwinter OBE FRS

FREng Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and Scholarship, fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK a ...

(8 March 1938 – 13 November 2021) was a British electrical engineer and professor, who was President of the

Institution of Electrical Engineers The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and Information Technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of Te ...

(now

IET __NOTOC__ IET can refer to: Organizations * Institute of Educational Technology, part of the Open University * Institution of Engineering and Technology, a UK-based professional engineering institution ** Institute of Engineers and Technicians, wh ...

) from 2000 to 2001.

Education

He was educated at St Bartholomew's School,

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

(BSc Physics, 1961) and the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

(PhD, 1968).

Career

From the 1970s, John’s research centred on optical fibre communications, and he led the speedy deployment of optical communications infrastructure in the UK while at British Telecom. He was subsequently the BT Professor of Optoelectronics at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

from 1984 to 1991 and Pender Professor of Electronic Engineering from 1991 to 2004, and was Vice Provost from 1994-1999. He was subsequently made an Emeritus Professor there. He was also a member of the Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology Advisory Board. He was President of IEE (now

) UK in 2000.

Awards

He was made an OBE and elected to Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1984 and a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1985. He delivered the

Clifford Paterson Lecture The Clifford Paterson Lecture is a prize lecture of the Royal Society now given biennially on an engineering topic. A £500 gift is given to the lecturer. The lectures, which honour Clifford Copland Paterson, founder-director of the GEC Wembley Re ...

of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1983 and was awarded the IEE JJ Thomson Medal in 1987 and the

Faraday Medal The Faraday Medal is a top international medal awarded by the UK Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) (previously called the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)). It is part of the IET Achievement Medals collection of awards. T ...

of the

in 1997. He was awarded Honorary Doctorates from Nottingham University in 2000, Loughborough University in 2001 & Queens University Belfast in 2004, UK. In 2000 he presented the

Bernard Price Memorial Lecture The Bernard Price Memorial Lecture is the premier annual lecture of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers. It is of general scientific or engineering interest and is given by an invited guest, often from overseas, at several of the m ...

. In 2002, he was awarded the IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award.

Personal life

Midwinter died on 13 November 2021, at the age of 83.Professor John Edwin Midwinter death notice
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Books

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Midwinter, John Edwin 1938 births 2021 deaths People educated at St. Bartholomew's School Alumni of King's College London Associates of King's College Alumni of the University of London Officers of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Institution of Engineering and Technology Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows of the Royal Society Academics of University College London People from Newbury, Berkshire