John Wyrill Christian FRS (9 April 1926 – 27 February 2001) was a British

metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

. Christian is worldwide recognized for his contribution on the foundation of modern understanding on

Martensitic transformation A diffusionless transformation is a phase change that occurs without the long-range diffusion of atoms but rather by some form of cooperative, homogenous movement of many atoms that results in a change in the crystal structure. These movements a ...

. His book The Theory of Transformations in Metals and Alloys, published in 1965, soon became the standard book for teaching phase transformation.

Life

John graduated from Queen's College, Oxford. He later on became a research student in the laboratory of Dr.

William Hume-Rothery William Hume-Rothery OBE FRS (15 May 1899 – 27 September 1968) was an English metallurgist and materials scientist who studied the constitution of alloys. Early life and education Hume-Rothery was born the son of lawyer Joseph Hume-Rother ...

, the founder of Oxford's metallurgy department. He received his doctorate in 1949 and became a university lecturer in 1955, a reader in 1958, fellow of St Edmund Hall, Oxford in 1963, and professor of physical metallurgy in 1963.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, John Wyrill 1926 births 2001 deaths British metallurgists People from Scarborough, North Yorkshire People educated at Scarborough High School for Boys