Sir Christopher Cockerell







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Sir Christopher Cockerell
by Emma Sergeant
oil on board, 1985
42 in. x 27 3/4 in. (1065 mm x 705 mm)
Commissioned, 1985
Primary Collection
NPG 5830
Sitterback to top
- Sir Christopher Cockerell (1910-1999), Scientist and inventor of the hovercraft. Sitter in 4 portraits.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Hackmann, W.D., Apples and Atoms: Portraits of Scientists from Newton to Rutherford, 1986, p. 84
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 133
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1985back to top
Current affairs
55 people die in the Manchester air disaster when a British Airtours Boeing 737 bursts into flames after an aborted takeoff at Manchester International Airport.Art and science
Bob Geldof and Midge Ure organise Live Aid, a rock concert in London and Philadelphia, to raise funds for famine relief. The biggest names in popular music, including Paul McCartney, Queen, Status Quo, The Police, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, U2, The Who, and Led Zeppelin, performed to a TV audience of 1.5 billion.The British Antarctic Survey discovers a hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica.
International
Reformer Mikhail Gorbachev comes to power as first secretary of the Soviet Communist party. He calls for 'glasnost' (openness) in Soviet life, and pursues a policy of 'perestroika' (reconstruction).French intelligence operatives sabotage Rainbow Warrior, the Greenpeace vessel. The ship was leading a protest against French nuclear testing in New Zealand when it was bombed and sunk, killing one of the twelve on board.
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