Dr Derek Whitmell: 1940–2025

Derek grew up in Beckenham, South London, attending Beckenham and Penge County Grammar for boys and came up to Cambridge on a major scholarship in October 1959 reading Maths, Physics, (Organic) Chemistry and Metallurgy for the Part 1 Tripos and Physics and Theoretical Physics) for his Part 2. His Director of Studies for his undergraduate degree was Bill Cochran, who played a major part in discovering the structure of haemoglobin. Derek then went on to study for a PhD, taking a research position at the Metallurgy Department under Professor Alan Cottrell and joining a group led by David Brandon which had just started to investigate the opportunities offered by Field Ion Microscopy, submitting his thesis in 1965.

Trinity Hall was very important to Derek and he always maintained that his time there formed a huge part of who he was as a person. As a scholar, with his pick of rooms, his first room in college was on Q staircase (Q5, which is now part of the Jerwood Library), which he fondly remembered overlooked the river Cam and a glorious copper beech tree. He had many great memories of attending the annual Dr Eden Feast, and punting on the river Cam having owned a share in a punt, the Jolie Alysoun. Derek was secretary and later chair of the Cambridge University Physics Society, which drew weekly lectures from some of Britain’s leading physicists at that time. He also played rugby for the college throughout his undergraduate years only stepping back when he took up a research position, with his last match the College cup final where Trinity Hall narrowly lost to Queens’ College.

Following the submission of his thesis in 1965, Derek took up the offer of a job at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell. Over the years he worked on various projects in his specialism of metallurgy, including the use of ion beams to lay down metallic surface coatings and developing a completely new technique for the safe storage of radioactive gases, which used a switched glow discharge to trap gas inside metals. By the end of his time as a research scientist, Harwell held 14 patents listed under his name. In his later career he led Harwell’s Programme and Planning Group and advised on the management of the Harwell and Culham sites, including the decommissioning of various research centres. He took his final retirement in 2003 having spent 38 years at Harwell.

Derek took a keen interest in the college throughout his life, keeping up to date with college news and returning to Cambridge many times for various alumni dinners, gatherings and celebrations. He was often accompanied by his wife Charmian, whom he’d met in 1961, whilst she was a student nurse at Addenbrookes and he was studying for his undergrad. They married in the summer of 1963 at St Edwards King and Martyr, with the reception held in the college hall. Derek later recalled the kindness of Trinity Hall’s gyps and porters, for agreeing to delay their annual holidays until after his wedding reception. He and Charmian were married for 56 wonderful years until her death in 2019. For Derek, Trinity Hall was always a source of real joy, great pride and countless anecdotes which will be sorely missed by both his family and friends. He is survived by his four children, eight grandchildren and five great grandchildren.