The Institute is named after the Nobel prizewinner Sir John Cockcroft FRS.
In 1944, he took charge of the Canadian Atomic Energy project and became Director of the Montreal Laboratory and Chalk River Laboratories, replacing Hans von Halban, who was considered a security risk.
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He undertook an apprenticeship with Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company whilst in receipt of an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851,.
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Topics included the Arts Council of Great Britain, life in contemporary Harlow, an interview with Kwame Nkrumah, who was Prime Minister of the Gold Coast (now Ghana), nuclear power featuring Robert McKenzie's interview with John Cockcroft and an interview of Robert Scott, Commissioner-General for Southeast Asia, by Matthew Halton.
Kowarski then worked in the Montreal Laboratory in Canada, but only after Halban had been replaced as Director by John Cockcroft, as he did not want to work under Halban.
The first meeting was on April 10, 1940 and the committee consisted of Sir George Paget Thomson as chairman and Marcus Oliphant, Patrick Blackett, James Chadwick, Philip Moon, and John Cockcroft as members.