Edward Cocking received a BSc in biological chemistry from the University of Bristol in 1953, followed by a PhD and a DSc in plant cell biology and nitrogen metabolism. After receiving a three-year Bacterial Chemistry Research Fellowship, he was appointed Lecturer in plant physiology at the University of Nottingham in 1959. He subsequently became Reader then Head of Department and Professor of Botany.

He served as a Trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Member of the Agricultural Research Council, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rothamsted Research, and Member of the Lawes Agricultural Trust. He was elected Fellow of the Institute of Biology, Academia Europaea, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the Indian Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

For his pioneering research on plant nitrogen fixation, in 2000 Edward received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Toledo in the United States. In 2014, he received an award for Best Spin Out Company of the Year from the University of Nottingham for Azotic Technologies’ ‘N-Fix’ crop symbiotic nitrogen-fixation technology.

Professor Edward Cocking FRS died on 14 July 2023.