John William Tranter Spinks

John William Tranter Spinks was born in Methwold, England on 1st January 1908. He recieved both a BSc (1928) and PhD (1930) in Chemistry from the King's College at the University of London. Spinks joined the University of Saskatchewan in 1930 as Assistant Professor.

He spent the 1933-34 academic year at the University of Darmstart, Germany, where he first met Dr. Gerhard Herzberg. Spinks was promoted to Professor in 1938; named Head of the Department of Chemistry in 1948; Dean of Graduate Studies in 1949; and became the fourth President of the University in 1959.

He died in Saskatoon in 1997.

The University of Saskatchewan open source computer labs were named the Spinks Labs.