{{Short description|British chemical engineer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}} {{Use British English|date=April 2018}} {{Infobox person | name = Terence Robert Corelli Fox | other_names = T.R.C. Fox | birth_date = 2 May 1912 | death_date = 5 October 1962 | occupation = Chemical engineer }} '''Terence Robert Corelli Fox''' (2 May 1912 – 5 October 1962), often called '''T.R.C. Fox''', was a notable British chemical engineer. He was a member of the Atomic Energy Council and the first Shell Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge.<ref name=ScalingUp>{{cite book | title = Scaling Up: The Institution of Chemical Engineers and the Rise of a New Profession | last1 = Divall | first1 = Colin | first2= Sean |last2=Johnston | year = 2000 | publisher = Springer | isbn = 0-7923-6692-1 | page = 173 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1InZu7G5yZoC&q=TRC+Fox&pg=PA173}}</ref><ref name=Whipple>{{cite book | title = The Whipple Museum of the History of Science: Instruments and Interpretations, to Celebrate the 60th Anniversary of R. S. Whipple's Gift to the University of Cambridge | last1 = Taub | first1 = Liba Chaia | first2= Frances |last2=Willmoth | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2006 | isbn = 0-521-86609-X | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=goSGBiZtPeAC&q=Terence+Robert+Corelli+Fox&pg=PA51 | page = 51 | quote = ...first Shell Professor of Chemical Engineering, 1946-1959, and Fellow of King's College}}</ref>
Fox was born on 2 May 1912, the son of an electrical engineer, and attended Regent Street Polytechnic Technical School and Jesus College, Cambridge. He graduated from the latter in 1933 with a degree in mechanical sciences.<ref name=TCE>{{cite book | title = The Chemical Engineer | publisher = Institution of Chemical Engineers | location = Rugby| year = 1984 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3FhWAAAAMAAJ&q=Terence+Robert+Corelli+Fox | page = 44 | quote = Fox graduated in what was then called mechanical sciences in 1933.}}</ref> ''The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes his success in the tripos as "unparalleled";<ref name="odnb">{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33236|first=J. F.|last=Davidson|title=Fox, Terence Robert Corelli (1912–1962)|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/33236|accessdate=2008-11-02}}</ref> he received a starred first and all available prizes, including the Rex Moir Prize and prizes for the best marks in Thermodynamics, Aeronautical Engineering and Structures, all in the same examination.<ref name=CamEng>{{cite web|url=http://www-g.eng.cam.ac.uk/125/1925-1950/milestones_06.html|title=University of Cambridge Engineering Department: 1925 - 1945|accessdate=2008-11-02}}</ref>
Fox returned to the Engineering Department at Cambridge four years after graduating, having first served a stint as a technical assistant at Imperial Chemical Industries.<ref name="odnb"/> He began as a demonstrator and became a fellow of King's College, Cambridge in 1941. Due to his teaching position he did not see active service in the Second World War, but he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the university Officer Training Corps, Royal Signals section, on 3 October 1942,<ref name=LondonGazette26>{{London Gazette|issue=35726|supp=y|page=4272|date=29 September 1942}}</ref> a commission he resigned on 9 February 1946.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37514|supp=y|page=1574|date=26 March 1946}}</ref>
In 1945, he became a lecturer in the Engineering Department at Cambridge. In that same year, on 2 March 1945, the university accepted an endowment to form a chemical engineering department by the Shell Group of Oil Companies, who would also sponsor a department chair.<ref name=Nature>{{cite journal | title = Chemical Engineering at Cambridge: Prof. T. R. C. Fox | journal = Nature | volume = 157 | page = 761 | date = 1946-06-08 | doi=10.1038/157761c0| issue=3997| bibcode = 1946Natur.157S.761. | doi-access = free }}</ref> Though not established in the field,<ref name="odnb"/> Fox was announced as the first to fill the chair position in June 1946.<ref name=Whipple/><ref name=Nature/>
Fox spent several years preparing the department before beginning to accept students in 1948. He was a supportive chair, dedicated to financing and furthering the research of others, including the team of Francis Thomas Bacon when they developed the hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell.<ref name="odnb"/> He remained in the position until 1959,<ref name=Whipple/> when poor health forced him to retire,<ref name=SciProg>{{cite book | title = Science Progress: A Review Journal of Current Scientific Advance | publisher = Blackwell Scientific Publications | year = 1959 | volume = 47 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dCsDAAAAIAAJ&q=TRC+Fox | quote = ...which Prof. Fox has decided to relinquish due to ill health...}}</ref> and was succeeded by Peter Victor Danckwerts.<ref>{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30996?&docPos=3&backToResults=list=yes |title=Oxford DNB:Danckwerts, Peter Victor (Subscription Needed)|last=Denbigh|first=K.G|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/30996|accessdate=2008-11-01}}</ref>
According to ''The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Fox's poor health was the result of a high stress personality, which led him to "a succession of nervous breakdowns in the early 1950s".<ref name="odnb"/> This was not helped by his tendency towards micromanagement: it was said that "he would use as much effort in spending 10''s.'' as £10,000."<ref name="odnb"/> He died at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in London on 5 October 1962.<ref name="odnb"/>
On 2 March 1963, the T.R.C. Fox Fund was established at Cambridge in tribute to his memory.<ref name=Cullum>{{cite book | last = Cullum | first = Thomas Gery | title = Register | year = 1966 | publisher = Cambridge University | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pZ-GQlKFMM0C&q=TRC+Fox | page = 85}}</ref> The Fund is used to provide an annual award to the student who does best on the Chemical Engineering Tripos, as long as that student is able to attain "the standard of the first class".<ref>{{cite book | title = Statutes and Ordinances of the University of Cambridge | author = Cambridge University | year = 2004 | isbn = 0-521-61171-7 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=muiI5itD3HwC&q=TRC+Fox&pg=PA754 | page = 754| publisher = Cambridge University Press }}.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Shell Professors of Chemical Engineering}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Terence}} Category:1912 births Category:1962 deaths Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Category:British chemical engineers Category:Chemical engineering professors at the University of Cambridge Category:Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:Officers' Training Corps officers Category:Royal Corps of Signals officers Category:Alumni of the Regent Street Polytechnic