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 ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' 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 Bradford Grammar School (BGS) is a co-educational independent day school located in Frizinghall, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Entrance is by examination, except for the sixth form, where admission is based on GCSE results. The school g ...

, where he met

Ralph Fox Ralph Hartzler Fox (March 24, 1913 – December 23, 1973) was an American mathematician. As a professor at Princeton University, he taught and advised many of the contributors to the ''Golden Age of differential topology'', and he played ...

who introduced him to

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

. He also developed a sufficient interest in mathematics to gain a scholarship to study mathematics and physics at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. However his arrival there was delayed by the war, as he spent some time with

Archibald Hill Archibald Vivian Hill (26 September 1886 – 3 June 1977), known as A. V. Hill, was a British physiologist, one of the founders of the diverse disciplines of biophysics and operations research. He shared the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physiology or M ...

, 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 The Anti-Aircraft Experimental Section of the Munitions Inventions Department was an organisation set up within Lloyd George's Ministry of Munitions in early 1916. Originally based at RAF Northolt, Northholt aerodrome, in May 1916 the section moved ...

of the

Munitions Inventions Department The Munitions Inventions Department (MID) of the British Ministry of Munitions was created during the First World War in 1915. Its administrative structure encompassed university and industrial laboratories, private workshops, and military experime ...

he gained experience of

scientific research The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific m ...

. 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 Albert Samuel Inkpin, (also written Inkpen) (16 June 1884 – 29 March 1944) was a British communist and the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). He served several terms in prison for political offences. ...

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 Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

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

Humphrey Sumner Milford Sir Humphrey Sumner Milford (8 February 1877 – 6 September 1952) was an English publisher and editor who from 1913 to 1945 was publisher to the University of Oxford and head of the London operations of Oxford University Press (OUP). Overview In ...

. In 1934 he married Franziscka Zarniko who he met in the USSR whilst visiting the

Ukrainian Institute of Physics and Technology The National Science Center Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology (KIPT) ( uk, Національний науковий центр «Харківський фізико-технічний інститут»), formerly the Ukrainian Physics ...

(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 Kurt Alfred Georg Mendelssohn FRS (7 January 1906, Berlin-Schoeneberg – 18 September 1980) was a German-born British medical physicist, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society 1951. Family life He was the only child of Ernst Moritz Mendelsso ...

. Crowther remained in correspondence with the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

physicist

Boris Hessen Boris Mikhailovich Hessen (russian: Бори́с Миха́йлович Ге́ссен), also Gessen (16 August 1893, Elisavetgrad – 20 December 1936, Moscow),The date of death is given incorrectly in most sources, including the Russian Acad ...

following his visit to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

as part of the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

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 The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...

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 Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. He died in

Driffield Driffield, also known as Great Driffield, is a market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The civil parish is formed by the town of Driffield and the village of Little Driffield. By road, it is north-east of Leeds ...

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