John Bockris's best known work is in electrochemistry but his output extended to environmental chemistry, photoelectrochemistry and bioelectrochemistry.
14 Facts About John Bockris
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John Bockris was born on 5 January 1923, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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John Bockris's mother was Emmeline Mary MacNally and his father Alfred Bockris.
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John Bockris attended a sequence of schools in Brighton, including the preparatory school Withdean Hall from 1934 to 1937, and Xaverian College, a Catholic secondary school, from 1937 to 1940.
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John Bockris's father was not present during his childhood: John Bockris's mother and aunt earned their income from tailoring.
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In 1940 Bockris began his scholarly education at Brighton Technical College, which after World War II became Brighton University.
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John Bockris wanted to study for a degree in Physics but this was not possible due to wartime staff shortages.
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John Bockris avoided conscription into the British armed forces due to his South African nationality.
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John Bockris relates that his supervisor, Harold Ellingham, provided minimal guidance and soon left the university altogether.
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John Bockris moved to USA in 1953 to join the University of Pennsylvania as Professor of Chemistry, where he built a large and active research group.
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John Bockris performed a series of cold fusion experiments in the wake of the announcement in 1989 by Pons and Fleischmann that their electrolysis of heavy water had produced results consistent with nuclear fusion.
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John Bockris, seemingly inured to criticism, published his side of the controversy in a stubborn defense of academic freedom.
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In 1993, John Bockris claimed to be experimenting with the transmutation of elements, specifically of base metals into gold.
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In 1997, John Bockris was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in the field of Physics for his work in cold fusion and transmutation.