Mr Peter B. Cornwell (Biology 1950, MSc 1951)

Source: The Times

Peter Cornwell was one of Britain's leading pest-control scientists. He studied the use of irradiation to kill insects in bulk grain, helped to defeat the so-called "super mouse" and wrote the definitive work on cockroaches.

After studying at Imperial College, London, Cornwell spent three years with the Colonial Service and studied insect-borne diseases of crops in the Caribbean, gaining his diploma in tropical agriculture in Trinidad, and worked for the West Africa Cocoa Research Institute in Ghana.

In the 1950s he joined the UKAEA's isotope research division at Wantage, which led to pilot schemes for disinfestation of grain in Turkey and Australia and for which he gained his DPhil from Oxford University.

He joined Rentokil in 1963 as chief biologist. Promoted to technical director in 1965, he led the company's R&D in rodenticides, insecticides, bird repellents and wood preservatives, with improved application techniques and systems.

He travelled worldwide on educational and training symposiums to improve the competence of all engaged in protecting health, food and property.

Cornwell also studied at Hornsey School of Art and was an enthusiastic watercolourist. He and his wife, Pat, ran a studio gallery near their home in Kent, and he wrote the book Success with Watercolours.