Eric Fawcett (23 August 1927 – 2 September 2000), was a professor of

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

for 23 years. He also co-founded

Science for Peace Science for Peace is organization of scientists, engineers, social scientists and scholars working together to promote peace worldwide. It was co-founded by mathematical psychologist Anatol Rapoport, and physicist Eric Fawcett, both former profess ...

Academic and professional life

Fawcett began his prestigious career in

with a full scholarship to the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. After graduation, he crossed the Atlantic to take up a post-doctoral fellowship at the

National Research Council National Research Council may refer to: * National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development * National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome * National Research Council (United States), part of ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

in 1954. Two years later Fawcett returned to England, where he worked at the

Royal Radar Establishment The Royal Radar Establishment was a research centre in Malvern, Worcestershire in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1953 as the Radar Research Establishment by the merger of the Air Ministry's Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) a ...

Malvern Malvern or Malverne may refer to: Places Australia * Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide * Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne * City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne * Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...

. In 1961 he moved to the United States and worked as a research physicist at

Bell Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

in Murray Hill, New Jersey. In 1970, he accepted a Professorship in the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto, where he remained until his retirement in 1993. Besides first observing cyclotron resonance in metals, Fawcett is credited with discovering the Hall effect in

type-II superconductors In superconductivity, a type-II superconductor is a superconductor that exhibits an intermediate phase of mixed ordinary and superconducting properties at intermediate temperature and fields above the superconducting phases. It also features the ...

. While he used many different experimental techniques over his career, including neutron scattering, magnetostriction was a technique that Fawcett especially developed as an effective probe of magnetism in metals and alloys.

Activism

Russia

In the 1980s, Eric showed leadership in the international effort to assist physicists (mainly

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

) in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

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. He and other physicists from the West helped these "

refuseniks Refusenik (russian: отказник, otkaznik, ; alternatively spelt refusnik) was an unofficial term for individuals—typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews—who were denied permission to emigrate, primarily to Israel, by the authori ...

" to keep up in current research by organizing seminars in the living rooms and kitchens of cramped apartments in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

agents were all around and Eric later admitted he was often fearful for his own safety.

Canada's foreign policy

Eric strongly disagreed with Canada's position in

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

. He felt that NATO's militaristic foreign policy was contrary to its ostensibly peaceful objective. Eric also publicly expressed shame over Canada's role in the massacres of

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

.I Remember... East Timor ....
See Dialogue Retrieved 23 May 2008

Science for Peace

Fawcett was the co-founder of

, a group dedicated towards the goal of universal peace. His dedication to the University of Toronto-based program demonstrated his belief that science should be used to further the cause of worldwide peace.

Influence

Fawcett's work with the Hall effect in type-II superconductors is still studied today. His name is also carried on by the biannua
Eric Fawcett Memorial Forum
hosted by Science for Peace.

Personal life

Fawcett was the second son to Harold and Florrie Fawcett, the younger brother of Roy. Eric and Roy attended Queen Elizabeths Grammar School, Blackburn. At various times the family lived in Mellor, in Longridge and on East Park Road and then finally at 2 Tarbert Crescent, Shadsworth, Blackburn. Blackburn was a textile town, and Fawcett's mother, Florrie, had worked in the Sunnyside Mill in Blackburn as a child. This experience led her to drive Eric in his studies. His hard work paid off, as he won a full scholarship to study physics at

. While studying at Cambridge, he met Cambridge native Patricia Egan, his wife-to-be. The two married on 9 October 1954. Together, they moved to

, where they lived for two years. In 1956 they returned to England, this time moving to

, where their children Clare (1956), Andrew (1958) and Ruth (1961) were born. In September 1961 the family relocated to

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, where they lived for ten years before moving north to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario, Canada in 1971, where Eric would spend the rest of his life. A year after the birth of his first grandchild, Michael, in late 1991, Fawcett chose to retire, doing so in 1993. Fawcett's retirement was a busy one. Three more grandchildren were born, Marc and Peter in 1994, and Robert in 1997. Eric also spent much time practicing

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

and the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

. In the academic world, Fawcett's greatest contribution during his retirement was his work for

. A co-founder, he threw himself into the pursuit of world peace through science. In September 2000 he died from

liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...

References

External links

Globe and Mail's obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fawcett, Eric 1927 births 2000 deaths People from Blackburn British nuclear physicists People associated with Malvern, Worcestershire Scientists at Bell Labs Scientists from Toronto Alumni of the University of Cambridge Canadian nuclear physicists American nuclear physicists Scientists from New Jersey British activists Canadian activists British emigrants to Canada 20th-century British scientists 20th-century American scientists 20th-century Canadian scientists Deaths from liver cancer