Sir John Harold Horlock 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 ...

(19 April 1928 – 22 May 2015) was a British professor of mechanical engineering, and was vice-chancellor of both the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

John Horlock
History of the Open University. Accessed 23 January 2023. and the

University of Salford , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

, as well as vice-president 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 1977, he was elected a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the Royal Academy of Engineering

Education and early life

Horlock was raised in

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nor ...

and attended

The Latymer School The Latymer School is a selective, Coeducation, mixed grammar school in Edmonton, London, Edmonton, London, England, established in 1624 by Edward Latymer. According to league tables, Latymer is one of the top state-schools in the country. Histo ...

, 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 Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

, Horlock accepted the role of professor and head of the mechanical engineering department at

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

. He returned to Cambridge as professor of engineering in 1967, and in 1973 he founded the department's

Whittle Laboratory The Whittle Laboratory has its origins in Sir Frank Whittle and a number of his original team, from Cambridge, and who in 1937 invented the jet engine. In opening the Laboratory in 1973 the aim was to develop the technology which would underpin the ...

, 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

Research

Horlock's main area of research was

turbomachinery Turbomachinery, in mechanical engineering, describes machines that transfer energy between a rotor and a fluid, including both turbines and compressors. While a turbine transfers energy from a fluid to a rotor, a compressor transfers energy from ...

, particularly

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...

compressors A compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. An air compressor is a specific type of gas compressor. Compressors are similar to pumps: both increase the pressure on a fluid and both can trans ...

and jet engines.

Selected books and book chapters

* * * * * * * *

Selected journal articles

* * * * * *

Honours and awards

Horlock won numerous awards including: * Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1976 *1980 received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University * Elected to the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

in 1988 *1996 He was given a knighthood in the 1996 New Year Honours, for services to science, engineering and education. *2001

James Alfred Ewing Medal This is an award of the Institution of Civil Engineers in memory of James Alfred Ewing Sir James Alfred Ewing MInstitCE (27 March 1855 − 7 January 1935) was a Scottish physicist and engineer, best known for his work on the magnetic prope ...

from the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

The Horlock building on the Open University's

Walton Hall Walton may refer to: People * Walton (given name) * Walton (surname) * Susana, Lady Walton (1926–2010), Argentine writer Places Canada *Walton, Nova Scotia, a community ** Walton River (Nova Scotia) *Walton, Ontario, a hamlet United Kingdo ...

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.

References

External links

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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Horlock, John Harold 1928 births 2015 deaths People from Edmonton, London Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Liverpool Academics of the University of Salford Academics of the Open University Engineers from London Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering People educated at The Latymer School Knights Bachelor Professors of engineering (Cambridge)