Peter A. Sturrock

United States

1924-2024

Obituary:

We are sad to inform the community that Peter Sturrock, Emeritus
Professor of Applied Physics at Stanford University, a celebrated and
prolific scientist in a broad range of fields: particle acceleration,
plasma physics, solar physics, astrophysics, scientific inference and
the philosophy of science, died on August 14, five months after
celebrating his 100th birthday.

Sturrock, an internationally recognized leader in solar physics for more
than a half a century, played an extraordinarily influential role in the
field. His leadership and legacy are being continued by his numerous
students and post-doctoral colleagues. He served as the Chair of the AAS
Solar Physics Division (1974-75) and was awarded its most coveted Hale
prize in 1986. In the early years after the discovery of quasars (or
AGNs) and pulsars, he wrote original works in both fields. His 1971
paper on “A Model of Pulsars” has been cited about 2000 times and
continues to be cited today. In addition to more than three hundred
published papers, he edited five volumes that review areas of plasma
physics, solar physics, and astrophysics, and five monographs: Static
and Dynamic Electron Optics (1955), Plasma Physics (1994), The UFO
Enigma (1999), A Tale of Two Sciences (2010), and AKA Shakespeare: A
Scientific Approach to the Authorship Question (2013).

Peter Sturrock was born in South Stifford, England in 1924. As a child,
he developed a strong interest in “mechanical toys.” In 1942, he was
admitted to St. John’s College at Cambridge and received a First in the
Mathematical Tripos. From 1943 to 1946, he (along with some other rather
famous Cambridge scientists) worked at the Radar Research Establishment
to help in the war effort. He came to the United States in 1949, to work
at the National Bureau of Standards, and soon thereafter met an
American, Betty Murray. They were married for ten years. He returned to
Cambridge and received his PhD in 1951 and was appointed a Research
Fellow at St. John’s from 1953-55, where he worked on electron optics
and particle accelerators. In 1955 he met Leonard Schiff, then chairman
of Stanford’s Physics Department, who offered him a position of
assistant professor. However, Peter felt that the required teaching
would interfere with his research, which led him to instead accept a
Research Associate position in Stanford’s Microwave laboratory, where he
was warmly welcomed and supported by laboratory director Edward Ginzton.

After the Department of Applied Physics was inaugurated by several
Physics Professors, Sturrock became a Professor of Applied Physics in
1961, a position he held for thirty eight years. Soon after (1962) he
married Marilyn Stenson, who ‘brought zest to my life’. In 1964, while
working on plasma physics, he established the Institute for Plasma
Research, and served as its director on two occasions. When his
interests broadened into solar physics he attracted several prominent
observers in the field, which made Stanford one of the leading centers
of solar physics research, that continues to this day. As his interests
broadened into other areas of astrophysics, in 1985 he established the
Center for Space Science and Astrophysics. Later he led the
establishment of the international Society for Investigation of
Anomalous Phenomena, dealing with the origins of unexplained, and rarely
explored, phenomena, and was the first editor of the society's journal.
After retirement in 1999 he continued to work in his office at the
Varian Physics building until 2020. For the past 20 years he ventured
into a new field: solar neutrino flux periodicity and its possible
relation to, or influence on, the radioactive decay of elements.

Peter served as Chair of the Plasma Physics Division of the American
Physical Society (1965-1966), as Chair of the Solar Physics Division of
the American Astronomical Society (1974-1975), and as President of the
Society for Scientific Exploration (1981-2001). In addition to the
George Ellery Hale Prize of the AAS in 1986, he received the annual
prize of the Gravity Foundation (1967) and the Arctowski Medal of the
National Academy of Science (1990), for his work on solar flares and
other aspects of solar physics. He also received the Space Science Award
of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (1992), and
the Dinsdale Prize of the Society for Scientific Exploration for his
leadership in establishing and leading this society.

Peter was an exceptional scientist with a strong command of advanced
mathematics and impressive physical intuition. He was once asked by a
reporter: “Professor Sturrock, when you are confronted by a new
observation, what do you do?” to which he replied “Some theoreticians
start by writing down equations, I start by drawing a simple cartoon.”
The cartoon typically revealed the fundamental physics at play. Peter
had a remarkable knack of bringing out the best in people. He was an
avid tennis player and a steadfast devotee of nonstop flights to
whatever destination his travels took him. He was also noted for love of
gourmet Chinese food, and for his penetrating questions at seminars. In
his 2015 book, “Late Night Thoughts About Science,” he describes the
many of unconventional investigations in which he was involved. Many
aspects of his life were included in his memoir “The Life and Times of a
Dissident Scientist” in the journal of Solar Physics in 2017. It offers
a remarkable insight into a truly remarkable scientist and equally
remarkable man.

Vahe’ Petrosian, Spiro Antiochos, Gordon Emslie, Jim Klimchuck, and Ron
Moore

(as announced in the AGU Space Physics and Aeronomy (SPA) Section
Newsletter)