Eric Fawcett, 1927-2000
Eric Fawcett, Professor of Physics Emeritus at the University of Toronto, died on September 2, 2000 at age 73 of liver cancer. Professor Fawcett was both a distinguished condensed matter physicist and an exceptional humanitarian.
Eric Fawcett was raised in Lancashire, England. He graduated with a PhD from Cambridge University in 1954 – heady days for physics at that institution – under the supervision of (Sir) Brian Pippard. His thesis research helped to lay the foundations of the new field of cyclotron resonance in metals. This early success in the study of the Fermi surface of electrons in metals would lead to lifelong friendships with a number of Soviet physicists who had developed the theoretical foundations for this work.
Eric's first contact with Canada came as a postdoc at the NRC Laboratories in Ottawa. After that he spent two years at the Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern, England, then joined the famous Bell Telephone Research Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. His research flowered at this world centre for condensed matter physics, and he remained there for ten years as a permanent staff member.
In 1970, Eric joined the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto as a Full Professor. He continued his distinguished scientific work on the physics of transition metals and their alloys, especially itinerant antiferromagnetism in Chromium, and became known as "Mr. Chromium" for his unceasing research on this intriguing metal. Eric wrote several important review articles on his research, which had a significant impact on stimulating further studies. During his scientific career, Eric authored/co-authored over 150 scientific papers. He had several PDF's who developed successful careers of their own, including M. Steinitz (St.F-X) and R. Greissen (Amsterdam). He continued his research well after his retirement from the University of Toronto in 1993. Indeed , Eric's last review paper on spin-density wave antiferromagnetism will be published posthumously.
Besides first observing cyclotron resonance in metals, Eric is credited with discovering the Hall effect in type-II superconductors. While he used many different experimental techniques over his career, including neutron scattering, magnetostriction was a technique that Eric especially developed as an effective probe of magnetism in metals and alloys.
In 1977, Eric organized the First International Conference on the Physics of Transition Metals in Toronto. This was a huge success with over 300 leading scientists attending, and became the first of an ongoing series of regular International Conferences on this subject.
In the 1980's, Eric showed leadership in the international effort to assist physicists (mainly Jewish) in the Soviet Union who had been fired from their positions in leading research institutes and universities and denied access to research facilities. Notable among these was the eminent physicist, Andrei Sakharov. Eric and other physicists from the West helped these "refuseniks" to keep up in current research by organizing seminars in the living rooms and kitchens of cramped apartments in Moscow. KGB agents were all around and Eric later admitted he was often fearful for his own safety.
During the years from 1976 to his recent death, Eric was active in at least nine organizations devoted to peace, the environment, and scientists' involvement in society. His most notable achievement was the founding, in 1981, of a new Canadian national organization called Science for Peace, based on the premise that while science obviously contributed to war, it could and should also contribute to peace. During the Cold War, Science for Peace became a truly national organization with chapters at universities across Canada. Members were initially drawn from the natural sciences, but the organization quickly embraced people from every academic discipline within and outside academia. Eric was the first President of Science for Peace (1981-84), and he continued to work tirelessly right up to his illness to promote the organization and its objectives.
In 1980, Eric was invited to be a participant in the Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs; in 1995, Pugwash and its President, Prof. Joe Rotblat, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Perhaps most important among Eric's humanitarian contributions was his role in conceiving and drafting the Toronto Declaration on ethics and science. The Toronto Declaration has taken on a life of its own, with considerable international interest expressed in it by other groups of concerned scientists.
Over his career, Eric made extended visits to over 13 universities and research institutes all over the world, including the ENS in Paris, Nagoya and Kyoto Universities in Japan, the Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems in Moscow, and the Technion in Israel. These visits often led to research collaborations which continued over the years. Eric frequently visited the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, especially during the Cold War, and to this day he holds a special place in the hearts of Russian and Ukrainian physicists. Many of them sent special words of grief and sympathy to Eric's family and friends upon learning of his unexpected death. To quote Prof. A.F. Andreev (the Director of the Kapitza Institute), "We regret that this remarkable person has left us."
Always an activist and full of enthusiasm, Eric could sometimes become impatient with those of his physics colleagues who resisted getting involved in public issues. While the need for such involvement is now taken for granted by most, this was not the case 20 years ago. Eric set an early example of a physicist who did excellent scientific work but was also deeply committed to playing a responsible role in society. Without doubt, his legacy will be honoured and remembered by the Canadian physics community.
Eric loved life and lived it to the full. He was an inveterate traveller and enjoyed interacting with people ( including physicists!) from different cultures. During his last years, Eric was actively pursuing many new interests , including studying piano and yoga. Eric is survived by his wife Pat (the gracious hostess of countless gatherings in their welcoming home in Toronto), his three children, Clare, Andrew and Ruth, and four beloved grandchildren. Ruth Fawcett is known to Canadian scientists for her scientific biography of W.B. Lewis, "Nuclear Pursuits".
A. Griffin , J. Perz, and L. E. H. Trainor, University of Toronto,
and M. Steinitz, St. Francis Xavier University