John Cockcroft

John Cockcroft (born May 27, 1897 in Todmorden; died September 18, 1967 at Churchill College, Cambridge) was a physicist from the United Kingdom. He is known for splitting the atom. Cockcroft studied at St. John's College, Cambridge, the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, and Victoria University of Manchester. He was a student of Ernest Rutherford.

Cockcroft's academic discipline was physics, and throughout his career as a physicist, he received numerous awards, including the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics. His work took place primarily within the United Kingdom.