Scientist, sailor and inventor Professor John Henderson Knox, aged 90

John Henderson Knox, a professor of physical chemistry at Edinburgh University and distinguished contributor to the fields of reaction kinetics and chromatography, has died aged 90.

A keen sailor in his spare time, Professor Knox also made his mark on the maritime world by inventing an anchor which bears his name.

Born in Edinburgh in 1927, both of his parents were fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Prof Knox was educated at George Watson’s Boys College and studied chemistry at Edinburgh University, before going on to take a PhD at Cambridge, under the Nobel Prizewinner RGW Norrish in 1953.

He returned to Edinburgh as a lecturer in chemistry and remained there until he retired in 1984. He was also director of its Wolfson Liquid Chromatography unit.

After retiring he pursued his lifelong interest in yachting and invented the Anchorwatch, a strain gauge which measures the force on an anchor chain, to alert crew when their anchor is at risk of slipping during a stormy night.

Prof Knox conducted years of experiments on Scotland’s beaches to measure the efficiency of various anchor designs before coming up with his own Knox Anchor, which is now commercially manufactured in the UK.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1971 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1984.

He and his wife Josephine celebrated 60 years of marriage in March 2017.