J. R. R. Tolkien J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, (; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor who is best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings", and "The Silmarillion". He served as the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1945 and Merton Professor of English Language and Literature and Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, from 1945 to 1959. He was at one time a close friend of C. S. Lewis—they were both
R & J Beck J. E. Barnard F.R.S., Beck Object Glasses, Eyepieces, Beck-Chapman Opaque Illuminator, Photomigraphic Cameras, Optical Benches, Microtomes, University Micro-projector and Folding Pocket Magnifiers. From the Coats Observatory collection: R & J Beck Richard Beck (1827-1866) and Joseph Beck FRAS, FRMS (June 1828-18 April 1891) (nephews of J. J. Lister) formed the optical manufacturing firm of R and J Beck in 1843, based at 69 Mortimer Street, London. James Smith worked with the company under the name of Smith and Beck, renamed Smith, Beck and Beck in 1854 but reverting to R and J Beck when Smith retired in 1865. Smith is