John Lewis, who has died aged 89, used to describe himself as "a mere schoolmaster", and indeed he taught for nearly 40 years at Malvern college, the Worcestershire public school, but he also had a profound influence on the teaching of physics worldwide.
He was born in Reading and educated at the Abbey school, Beckenham, then Malvern college, and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where his mathematics studies were interrupted by second world war service at the tank armament research centre at Porton Down, Wiltshire. Soon afterwards, John joined the teaching staff at Malvern and remained there until his retirement in 1983, for many years as head of science. In the late 1950s, he was invited to join the physics panel of the Science Masters' Association and then to chair the modern physics committee of its successor, the Association for Science Education (ASE).
In the 1950s, science teaching in schools had changed little for decades and teachers recognised that something must be done, though the government was reluctant to intervene. In 1962, the Nuffield Foundation, a charitable trust, provided the funding for teams to develop modern teaching materials and methods. John became a senior member of the O-level physics project, taking responsibility for the practical side, developing appropriate apparatus as well as writing experimental guides. Over the years other science courses, too, were influenced by the Nuffield teaching programmes, assessment styles, experiments and apparatus.
In the 1970s, John devised and directed the Science in Society project, having realised that school syllabuses did little to show the relevance of science in the world. Contributors to the course material read like a Who's Who? and even the Prince of Wales was recruited to make a recording on The Quality of Life. The same was true of the group established to advise on the Diploma of Achievement, a project developed by John in the 1990s, during his retirement, in response to the complaint from industry that not enough was being done to train school students in a variety of basic skills.
John travelled the world lecturing about his work, served on many national and international committees, and was elected chairman of the ASE in 1977. His many awards included the Bragg medal, the Queen's Silver Jubilee medal, and, delighting him more than any of these, honorary fellowship of the Institute of Physics. He was appointed OBE in 1980.
John was an extraordinary man who could persuade people from all walks of life to join in his enterprises. Working alongside him was both a privilege and pleasure. There was a twinkle in his eye and he would remark frequently: "What fun." He is survived by his wife, Maureen, whom he married in 1952, two sons, six grandchildren and one great grandchild.