CAMBRIDGE, MA — John Gordon King of Cambridge, MA, formerly of Woolwich, ME, Francis L. Friedman Professor of Physics Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, died on June 15, 2014, in Wellfleet, MA, aged 88, surrounded by family.

Born in London on Aug. 13, 1925, he was brought up in France by his American mother, Sara Merrick, and French stepfather, Pierre de Jordy, who first introduced him to the art of tinkering. As a student at Phillips Exeter Academy, he had his own lab. Drafted into the Army in 1943, the Navy requested his transfer to work on acoustic torpedoes at the Harvard Underwater Sound Lab. He entered MIT in 1946 as an undergraduate and retired from teaching in 1996.

Best known for his work on null experiments, he was Director of the Molecular Beam Lab, where he invented the molecular microscope, and Assistant Director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics. An early proponent of hands-on science education, he established Concentrated Studies, Corridor Lab and Project Lab. He was mentor to many graduate students who have gone on to distinguished careers.

Imaginative, inventive, ingenious, a favorite pastime was sketching ideas on napkins in restaurants to the enlightenment and delight of the assembled company, and he could do anything with a pair of pliers and coat-hanger wire. He had a lifelong passion for classical music, poetry and all manner of dictionaries. Author of numerous articles, he is co-author of “Physics Project Labs,” to be published in the fall by Oxford University Press.

He is survived by his wife Jane Williams, his daughter Martha (Jerry), sons Andrew (Diane), James (Tracy), Charles (Vera), David (Joan), Benjamin (Eloise), Matthew (Lauren), granddaughters Sara, Katy and Lily, stepchildren Cynthia, David, Katy, Nicholas, and eight step-grandchildren. His son Alan predeceased him.

Donations may be made in his name to the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, 301 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA 02115, or American Friends of the Bugatti Trust, c/o Sandy Leith, 136 Village Ave., Dedham, MA 02026. There will be a memorial gathering later in the year. “Goodnight sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”