John Arthur Shercliff

In 1980, Shercliff was elected a fellow of the Royal Society and almost simultaneously to the Hopkinson and ICI Professorship of Applied Thermodynamics at Cambridge, following the retirement of his former supervisor Sir William Hawthorne. Shercliff was then chosen to succeed Mair as Head of Department on his retirement in 1983. Tragically, he was struck by cancer in 1982. Despite this severe illness, he assumed responsibility as Head of Department in October 1983, but died shortly afterwards in December of the same year. The Arthur Shercliff memorial trust was established to provide travel scholarships for engineering students at Cambridge and Warwick universities.

One of his sons, Hugh, attended Arthur's lectures in the Engineering Tripos, and went on to graduate with first class honours in 1984. He himself is now a lecturer in the Department.

Click the picture to see a short extract from a lecture by Shercliff on Magnetohydrodynamics. Video from Encyclopaedia Britannica Educational Corporation (EDC Inc.)