Sir Alexander Walter Merrison FRS (20 March 1924 – 19 February 1989) was a British physicist. He was a professor in Experimental Physics at Liverpool University and the first Director of the new Daresbury Nuclear Physics Laboratory. He later became Vice-Chancellor of University of Bristol. Education Born in Wood Green, London, Alec Merrison initially attended Tottenham Grammar School and subsequently Enfield Grammar School, before going on to King's College London (which had been evacuated to Bristol during the Second World War) graduating BSc with First Class Honours in 1944. Career Merrison was first appointed as an Experimental Officer working on radar at the Signal Research and Development Establishment, Christchurch, Hampshire 1944–1946. In 1946 he joined the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, as Senior Scientific Officer commencing research in nuclear physics, developing among the earliest neutron spectrometers. Leaving Harwell in 1951 for the University of Liverpool he was Leverhulme Fellow and Lecturer (PhD 1957), beginning ten years of research on elementary particle physics, using newly developed proton synchrotron machines. Senior Physicist at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) from 1957 to 1960, subsequently Merrison was Chair in Experimental Physics at Liverpool from 1960 until 1969. In 1962 he was also first Director of the new Daresbury Nuclear Physics Laboratory (officially opened in 1967), responsible for the construction of the 5 GeV electron synchrotron NINA. In 1969 Merrison left Liverpool, appointed Vice-Chancellor of University of Bristol serving until 1984, presiding over many changes in University structure and funding, overseeing considerable expansion in size, toward the end of his tenure making controversial reductions in some departments as government reduced its funding of universities. Other activities Merrison combined his Vice-Chancellorship with numerous other public responsibilities, including service on government committees. In 1970 he was appointed Chair of the Committee of Inquiry into the design and creation of steel box girder bridges (reporting in 1973). In 1973 he became Chair of the Committee of Inquiry into the Regulation of the Medical Profession (reporting in 1975) whose recommendations were largely incorporated in the 1978 Medical Practitioners Act. In 1978 Merrison was appointed under the chairmanship of H. Bondi to the Severn Barrage Committee established by the Department of Energy to advise government to assess the advantages and disadvantages of a 'scheme for harnessing the tidal energy of the Severn Estuary.' Its 1981 report was favourable. In 1976 Merrison was appointed Chair of the Royal Commission