James Gerald Crowther (26 September 1899,
Halifax – 30 March 1983)
was one of the founders of
science journalism
Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists, and the public.
Origins
Modern science journalism dates back to ''Digdarshan'' (means showing the di ...
. He was appointed the scientific correspondent of ''
The Manchester Guardian'' in 1928.
James was the second child of James Crowther, the principal of
Halifax Technical School, and his wife, Alice, (née Ainscow), a music teacher.
Crowther attended
Bradford Grammar School, where he met
Ralph Fox who introduced him to
Marxism.
He also developed a sufficient interest in mathematics to gain a scholarship to study mathematics and physics at
Trinity College, Cambridge.
However his arrival there was delayed by the war, as he spent some time with
Archibald Hill, applying a scientific approach to
anti-aircraft gun
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
nery.
During the time he spent with the
Anti-Aircraft Experimental Section of the
Munitions Inventions Department he gained experience of
scientific research.
When he arrived at Trinity College he became friends with
A. L. Rowse
Alfred Leslie Rowse (4 December 1903 – 3 October 1997) was a British historian and writer, best known for his work on Elizabethan England and books relating to Cornwall.
Born in Cornwall and raised in modest circumstances, he was encourag ...
.
On 7 March 1923
Albert Inkpin enrolled Crowther in the
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...
.
In 1924 he married Dora Amy Royle de Bude and then started work for
Oxford University Press as a travelling salesman selling technical books. He was thus able to support Dora and her six year old daughter.
He was appointed a commissioning editor for
Oxford University Press by
Humphrey Sumner Milford.
In 1934 he married Franziscka Zarniko who he met in the USSR whilst visiting the
Ukrainian Institute of Physics and Technology (UIPT) in 1932.
Franziscka, who had ambitions to become a film maker was the German sister of Barbara Ruhemann, a physicist at UIPT, married to Martin Ruhemann. A third sister Jutte had married
Kurt Mendelssohn.
Crowther remained in correspondence with the
Russian physicist
Boris Hessen following his visit to
London as part of the
Soviet delegation to the Second International Congress of the
History of Science
The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal.
Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...
. This continued until Hessen's murder in the
great purge during 1936.
On retirement he moved to
Flamborough Head
Flamborough Head () is a promontory, long on the Yorkshire coast of England, between the Filey and Bridlington bays of the North Sea. It is a chalk headland, with sheer white cliffs. The cliff top has two standing lighthouse towers, the olde ...
,
Yorkshire.
He died in
Driffield on 30 March 1983.
Works
*
Science in Soviet Russia' (1930), reprinted (1936)
* ''British Scientists of the Nineteenth Century'' (1935, London)
* ''Famous American Men of Science'' (1937, London)
* ''An Outline of the Universe'', (1931, London)
[OCLC:3253288]
* ''The Social Relations of Science'' (1941, New York)
* ''Science at War'' (with R. Whiddington) (1948, New York)
* ''Science in Liberated Europe'' (1949, London)
* ''Radioastronomy and Radar'' (1961, New York)
* ''Six Great Astronomers: Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Halley, Herschel, Russell, Eddington'' (1961, London)
* ''Science in Modern Society'' (1967, London)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowther, James
English science writers
1899 births
1983 deaths
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
People educated at Bradford Grammar School
Communist Party of Great Britain members