{{Short description|Australian physicist (1945–2020)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2015}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Rod Crewther | image = <!--(filename only)--> | caption = Rodney James Crewther | birth_date = {{Birth date |1945|09|23|df=y}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2020|12|17|1945|09|23|df=y}} | death_place = Adelaide, Australia | citizenship = | ethnicity = | fields = Physicist | workplaces = University of Adelaide<br />CERN<br />Cornell University<br />Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory<br />University of Berne<br />University of Dortmund<br />Max Planck Institute | alma_mater = California Institute of Technology<br />Melbourne University | doctoral_advisor = Murray Gell-Mann | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = Gauge field theory | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | awards = Fulbright scholarship | religion = | signature = <!--(filename only)--> | footnotes = }}
'''Rodney James Crewther''' (23 September 1945 – 17 December 2020) was a physicist, notable in the field of gauge field theories.
==Education== After gaining his MSc at Melbourne University where he was resident at Ormond College, Crewther was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to the California Institute of Technology. He studied under the tutelage of Nobel prizewinner Murray Gell-Mann and completed his doctorate, in 1971, after successfully defending his dissertation against the renowned theorist Richard Feynman. His thesis was entitled ''Spontaneous Breakdown of Conformal and Chiral Invariance.''<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=102481 | title=Rodney Crewther - the Mathematics Genealogy Project }}</ref>
==Career== After his PhD, he held postdoctoral appointments at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. Subsequently, he spent twelve years in Europe, six of them as a Staff Member of the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva, and the remainder as a research associate at the University of Berne, University of Dortmund, and at the Max Planck Institute in Munich. Crewther was then appointed as a senior lecturer in physics at the University of Adelaide.
Having a keen interest in politics, Crewther was vice-president of the University of Adelaide branch of the National Tertiary Education Union.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.nteu.org.au/adelaide/officers|publisher=National Tertiary Education Union|title=Officers and Staff - University of Adelaide|accessdate=2016-12-15}}</ref> He also served on the University Council.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.adelaide.edu.au/records/archives/guide/0616.htm|publisher=University of Adelaide Archives|title=University Council Photographs|accessdate=2016-12-15}}</ref>
==Teaching== He designed the honours physics course "Gauge Field Theories." He also lectured on Quantum Mechanics III, Advanced Dynamics and Relativity, and Honours Quantum Field Theory. For courses Quantum Mechanics II, Honours Relativistic Quantum Mechanics and Particle Physics, and Classical Fields and Mathematical Methods, his notes were followed by his successors.
Dr Crewther also taught a 4-week module of Physics 1B at the University of Adelaide where he hosted mechanics lectures that focused on the centre of mass, rotation, angular momentum and gyroscopic precession.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://myuni.adelaide.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/execute/modulepage/view?course_id=_326061_1&cmp_tab_id=_143740_1&mode=view |title=Error – Blackboard Learn |access-date=28 July 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304115204/https://myuni.adelaide.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/execute/modulepage/view?course_id=_326061_1&cmp_tab_id=_143740_1&mode=view |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Death== He died in 2020 around Christmas time from cancer.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ross |first=Edward |date=27 December 2020 |title=Rod Crewther: 23/09/1945-17/12/2020 |work=Skeptric.com |url=https://skeptric.com/rod-crewther/ |accessdate=3 January 2021}}</ref>
==Notes and references== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=102481 Crewther's math genealogy] * [http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/theory/staff/crewther.html Crewther's homepage] * [http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/aip-sa/2005/jointieee.html Crewther bio] * [http://www.expertguide.com.au/!DrRodCrewther!_5317.aspx Crewther's Expert profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725103711/http://expertguide.com.au/!DrRodCrewther!_5317.aspx |date=25 July 2008 }} * [http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/rodney.crewther Crewther's University of Adelaide profile] * [http://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~hooft101/gthpub/Instantons_U1_1986.pdf Commentary on Crewther's work by Gerardus 't Hooft] * [http://en.scientificcommons.org/rodney_james_crewther Crewther at the Scientific Commons] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525025052/http://en.scientificcommons.org/rodney_james_crewther |date=25 May 2019 }} * [https://inspirehep.net/author/profile/R.J.Crewther.1 Scientific publications of Rod Crewther] on INSPIRE-HEP * [http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-11182004-132951 Crewther's thesis]
{{University of Adelaide}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crewther, Rod}} Category:1945 births Category:2020 deaths Category:Australian physicists Category:People associated with CERN Category:Academic staff of the University of Adelaide Category:University of Melbourne alumni Category:California Institute of Technology alumni