Raymond Frederick "Ray" Streater (born 1936) is a British

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

, and professor emeritus of Applied Mathematics at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. He is best known for co-authoring a text on

quantum field theory In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines classical field theory, special relativity, and quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct physical models of subatomic particles and ...

, the 1964 ''PCT, Spin and Statistics and All That''.

Life

Ray Streater was born on 21 April 1936 in Three Bridges in the parish of Worth,

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, the second son of Frederick Arthur Streater (builder) (1905-1965) and Dorothy Beatrice Streater, née Thomas (17 December 1907 - 16 December 1994). He married Mary Patricia née Palmer on 19 September 1962, and they had three children: Alexander Paul (1963);

Stephen Bernard Stephen Jarrod Bernard FSA FRSA FRHistS FHEA (born 1975) is an Academic Visitor at thFaculty of English Language and Literature University of Oxford and a member of University College. A prize-winning essayist, editor, and bibliographer, he is k ...

(1965); Catherine Jane Mary (1967). Professor Streater's career may be summarised as follows. * Jan.-Sep. 1960 – Research Fellow,

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

, Geneva, Switzerland * 1960-1961 – Instructor in Physics,

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, NJ, USA * 1961-1964 – Assistant Lecturer in Physics,

Imperial College, London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

* 1964-1967 – Lecturer in Physics, Imperial College, London * 1967-1969 – Senior Lecturer in Mathematics, Imperial College, London * 1969-1984 – Professor of Applied Mathematics,

Bedford College, London file:Bedford College in York place - photographer is unknown but guess 1908.png, Bedford College was in York Place after 1874 Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for education of women, women in th ...

* 1984-2001 – Professor of Applied Mathematics,

* Oct. 2001 on – Emeritus Professor,

Works

Streater co-authored a classic text on mathematical

, reprinted as : ''PCT, Spin and Statistics and All That'' (written jointly with Wightman, A. S.), 2000, Princeton University Press, Landmarks in Mathematics and Physics ( paperback); first published in 1964 by W. A. Benjamin. The title is an homage to

1066 and All That ''1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, Comprising All the Parts You Can Remember, Including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates'' is a tongue-in-cheek reworking of the history of England. Written by W. C. Sellar and R. J ...

. He has also become interested in the dynamics of quantum systems that are not in a pure state, but are large. This is expressed in : ''Statistical Dynamics: A Stochastic Approach to Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics'', 1995, Imperial College Press ( hardback, paperback). This work was simplified and extended in the second edition, published in 2009.

References

External links

Professor Streater's page at King's College, London
() {{DEFAULTSORT:Streater, Ray 1936 births Living people People from Worth, West Sussex British physicists Academics of Imperial College London Academics of King's College London Princeton University faculty Quantum physicists People associated with CERN