Dr John A Leake

Dr John A Leake, MA, PhD, FRSA, FInstP, CPhys

John Leake graduated in Physics and then carried out research in Crystallography and on the inelastic scattering of X-rays and neutrons.   He joined the University’s Department of Metallurgy (now Materials Science & Metallurgy) in 1968, where his interests turned to characterising the structure of technological materials at scales from sub-nanometre to micron because many important properties of materials depend critically on their structure at various length-scales.  He also investigated the ways in which those structures change with time and temperature, especially the process known as “relaxation” in glasses.  Heavily involved with teaching, he was one of the originators of the “DoITPoMS” instructional website.   Now retired, he maintains involvement with the Department and learns ever more about his subject by drafting much of the content of the Department’s newsletter Material Eyes. 

He served on the University Council and the General Board and was, for many years, a member of the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES).  In College he was Tutor for the medics and vets in the seventies and early eighties, and overall Director of Studies in Natural Sciences in the late eighties and the nineties.  He was elected President of the College in 2003 for the normal four-year stint.  He has taught for several decades, these days concentrating on Materials for Engineers, and now also acts as Study Skills adviser for undergraduates across the science-related subjects.  In the wider world he has worked with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education and as a school governor.