John Carver was born in Sydney in 1926. He received a BSc in 1947 and an MSc in 1948 from the University of Sydney. Carver then went to England (1949 to 1953) to study for his PhD at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. From 1953 to 1961 he was a research fellow, fellow and then senior fellow at the then Research School of Physical Sciences at the ANU. In 1961 Professor Carver was appointed elder professor and head of the department of physics at the University of Adelaide, a position he held until 1978. Professor Carver returned to the ANU as professor of physics and director of the Research School of Physical Sciences in 1978, a position from which he retired in 1992. Upon his retirement he was appointed emeritus professor and served the ANU as deputy vice-chancellor and director of the Institute of Advanced Studies from 1993 to 1994.