Many have cause to be grateful for his kindness, generosity and support.

Professor John Young

Professor Horlock first studied engineering at Cambridge at St John’s College and earned his PhD in 1958. After a time working at Rolls Royce and Liverpool University, he returned to the Department in the 1960s as Professor, serving as Deputy Head of Department under Sir William Hawthorne.

While conducting research on compressor aerodynamics, Professor Horlock wrote two highly influential books, Axial Flow Compressors and Axial Flow Turbines. He was also interested in promoting turbomachinery research in a wider context. Having obtained the necessary funding, Professor Horlock then founded the Whittle Laboratory in 1973, where today ground-breaking research on fluid dynamics and thermodynamics is conducted by top Engineering minds. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1976.

Professor Horlock went on to become vice-chancellor of Salford University and then the Open University. However, he soon found himself returning to Cambridge and the Whittle Laboratory to continue his research work. In this time he published numerous papers and wrote several more books. He also became treasurer and later Vice President of the Royal Society. He was knighted in 1996 for services to science, education and engineering.

“Professor Horlock maintained a strong interest in the personal welfare of students, young academics and not-so-young academics,” recalled Professor John Young of the Energy Group. “Many have cause to be grateful for his kindness, generosity and support, myself included. He once told me that he had been personally involved in the appointment of over 200 professors! In his life he mixed with the eminent, the great and the good, but he always retained a sympathetic understanding for the difficulties of others, whoever they were.”

Professor Sir John Harold Horlock, born 19 April 1928, died 22 May 2015.