Dr Leake matriculated at St John's from Lancaster RGS in 1958. He was appointed as a Lecturer in Crystalline Materials and in Materials Science. He was the Tutor for Medics and Vets in the 1970s and early 1980s, and overall Director of Studies in Natural Sciences (Biological and Physical) in the late 1980s and 1990s. He served as President of the College from 2003 to 2007. He served on the University Council and the General Board for six years, chairing the Education Committee for two years, and was, for many years, a member of the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES). In the wider world he worked for the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.
In College Dr Leake initially taught Physics and then Materials Science in the Natural Sciences Tripos. Following 'retirement', he taught Materials in Parts IA and IB of the Engineering Tripos for many years and acted as Study Skills adviser for undergraduates across the science-related subjects and Economics. Also heavily involved with teaching in his University Department, he was one of the originators of the “DoITPoMS” instructional website.
After graduating in Physics, Dr Leake carried out research in Crystallography and on the inelastic scattering of X-rays and neutrons. Joining the University’s then Department of Metallurgy in 1968, his interests turned to characterising the structure of technological materials at scales from sub-nanometre to micron because many important properties depend critically on structure at these length-scales. He also investigated ways in which structures change with time and temperature, especially 'relaxation' in glasses.
The Compton Profile of lithium, Malcolm Cooper and J.A. Leake, Phil. Mag. 12, 797-800 (1965).
Phonon dispersion measurements on a krypton single crystal, W.B. Daniels, G. Shirane, B.C. Frazer, H. Umebayashi and J.A. Leake, Phys. Rev. Letters 18, 548-550 (1967).
Activation energy spectra and relaxation in amorphous materials, M.R.J. Gibbs, J.E. Evetts and J.A. Leake, J. Mat. Sci. 18, 278-288 (1983).
Epitaxial growth of WO3 films on SrTiO3 and sapphire, A. Garg, J.A. Leake, Z.H. Barber, J. Phys. D, Applied Physics 33, 1048-1053 (2000).
