Peter Andrew Sturrock (20 March 1924 – 12 August 2024) was a British-American physicist. A professor of applied physics at Stanford University, much of Sturrock's career was devoted to astrophysics, plasma physics, and solar physics, but Sturrock was interested in other fields, including ufology, scientific inference, the history of science, and the philosophy of science. Sturrock was awarded many prizes and honors, and wrote or co-authored many scientific papers and textbooks.
Biography Sturrock was born in the South Stifford area of Essex in England. He began his education studying mathematics at Cambridge University in 1942. During and after World War 2, Sturrock postponed his Cambridge studies in order to help develop radar systems at the Telecommunications Research Establishment, now the Royal Radar Establishment. After the war, Sturrock resumed his education, and was awarded a scholarship at St John's College in 1947, followed by the University Rayleigh Prize for mathematics in 1949. Sturrock was elected to a fellowship at St John's in 1952. He then pursued work on electron physics at the Cavendish Laboratory, where his supervisor was Vernon Ellis Cosslett. This was followed by stints at Cambridge, the National Bureau of Standards, and the École Normale Supérieure at the University of Paris. In 1951, Sturrock earned a Ph.D. in astrophysics. In the 1950s he began a varied and highly successful research career: nuclear physics at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment; plasma physics at St. Johns' College, Cambridge; microwave engineering at Stanford University, and accelerator physics at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Also in the 1950s, Sturrock invented a number of implements, including a novel microwave tube later dubbed the "Free electron laser." In 1961, Sturrock was appointed a professor of applied physics at Stanford University, where he remained until 1998; he was an emeritus professor of physics and applied physics at Stanford. In 1990 Sturrock was awarded the Arctowski Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. From 1992 to 1998, he was director of the Center for Space Science and Astrophysics, and from 1981 to 2001 was president of the Society for Scientific Exploration. Sturrock also served as chairman of the Plasma Physics Division and the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society. In 2009, Sturrock published his autobiography, A Tale of Two Sciences: Memoirs of a Dissident Scientist, which covered both his research in conventional physics and his less mainstream investigations. In 2013, Sturrock published AKA Shakespeare: A Scientific Approach to the Authorship Question. In this book, he laid out a method for weighing evidence which he developed for studying pulsars. Sturrock then invited the reader to apply the method to tabulate their own "degree of belief" in three different candidates for authorship of the works usually attributed to Shakespeare. He was elected a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2020. Sturrock died at home in the United States, on 12 August 2024, at the age of 100.
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