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 cau ...
, and professor emeritus of Applied Mathematics at
King's College London. He is best known for co-authoring a text on
quantum field theory, 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,
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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, 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 (1965); Catherine Jane Mary (1967).
Professor Streater's career may be summarised as follows.
* Jan.-Sep. 1960 – Research Fellow,
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
* 1960-1961 – Instructor in Physics,
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, 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 c ...
* 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
* 1984-2001 – Professor of Applied Mathematics,
King's College London
* Oct. 2001 on – Emeritus Professor,
King's College London
Works
Streater co-authored a classic text on mathematical
quantum field theory, 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.
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