Christopher Riche Evans
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Christopher Riche Evans (29 May 1931 – 10 October 1979) was a British
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
,
computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...
, and author.


Biography

Born in
Aberdyfi Aberdyfi (), also known as Aberdovey ( ), is a village and community in Gwynedd, Wales, located on the northern side of the estuary of the River Dyfi. The population of the community was 878 at the 2011 census. The electoral ward had a larger ...
, Christopher Evans spent his childhood in
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
and was educated at
Christ College, Brecon Christ College, Brecon, is a co-educational, boarding and day independent school, located in the cathedral and market town of Brecon in mid-Wales. It currently caters for pupils aged 7–18 years. History Christ College was founded by Roya ...
(1941–49). He spent two years in the RAF (1950–52), and worked as a science journalist and writer until 1957, when he began a B.A. course in Psychology at University College, London, graduating with honours in 1960. After a summer fellowship at
Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
in the United States, where he first met his American wife, Nancy Fullmer, he took up a Research Assistant post in the
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 ...
Laboratory, University of Reading, working on eye movements under Professor R. W. Ditchburn. Upon receiving his PhD (the title of his thesis was "Pattern Perception and the Stabilised Retinal Image"), he went to the Division of Computer Science, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, in 1964, where he remained until his death from
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
in 1979. He had two children, Christopher Samuel Evans and Victoria Evans-Theiler.


Works

In 1979, Christopher Evans wrote a book about the oncoming microcomputer revolution, '' The Mighty Micro: The Impact of the Computer Revolution'', which included predictions for the future up to the year 2000. This book was also printed in the US as ''The Micro Millennium'' (New York: The Viking Press, ). He subsequently scripted and presented for
ATV ATV may refer to: Broadcasting * Amateur television *Analog television Television stations and companies * Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra * ATV (Armenia) * ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate * ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne * ATV (Austria) * AT ...
a six-part television series based on this book and broadcast posthumously by
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
between October and December 1979. His other books include ''
Cults of Unreason ''Cults of Unreason'' is a non-fiction book on atypical belief systems, written by Christopher Evans (computer scientist), Christopher Riche Evans, who was a noted computer scientist and an experimental psychologist.''American Studies: An Annotate ...
'', a study of Scientology and other
pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...
, and ''Landscapes of the Night: How and Why We Dream''. In the 1970s, Evans undertook a set of interviews with computer pioneers such as
Konrad Zuse Konrad Ernst Otto Zuse (; 22 June 1910 – 18 December 1995) was a German civil engineer, pioneering computer scientist, inventor and businessman. His greatest achievement was the world's first programmable computer; the functional program-c ...
and Grace Hopper. These were released through the
Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...
, London, as ''
Pioneers of Computing Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...
'', a set of
cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...
tapes. Christopher Evans also edited two anthologies of
psychological science fiction In literature, psychological fiction (also psychological realism) is a narrative genre that emphasizes interior characterization and motivation to explore the spiritual, emotional, and mental lives of the characters. The mode of narration examine ...
/
horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...
stories, ''Mind at Bay'' and ''Mind in Chains'', a collection of science writings, ''Cybernetics: Key Papers'', a reference book ''Psychology: A Dictionary of Mind, Brain and Behaviour'', and was a contributing editor to the science magazine '' Omni''. A keen pilot, he also edited a yearly pilot's diary of rural airfields in
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
. Evans had a significant friendship and collaboration with the writer J. G. Ballard. Together around 1968 they developed ideas for a play about a car crash, offered to the Institute of Contemporary Arts but not produced. Later came an exhibition of crashed cars at The New Arts Lab in London in 1970, and ultimately Ballard's novel
Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...
, published in 1973. Evans' charismatic appearance as a "hoodlum scientist" (in Ballard's description) was an inspiration for the character of Dr. Robert Vaughan in
Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...
. Evans also appears in Ballard's fictionalised life story The Kindness of Women as the psychologist Dr. Richard Sutherland. (Ballard recounts his friendship with Evans in his autobiography
Miracles of Life ''Miracles of Life'' is an autobiography written by British writer J. G. Ballard and published in 2008. Overview The book describes Ballard's childhood and early teenage years in Shanghai in the 1930s and the early 1940s, when the city is ravage ...
.) During the 1970s, Evans was the scientific advisor to the
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
TV series, ''
The Tomorrow People ''The Tomorrow People'' is a British children's science fiction television series created by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran from 30 April 1973 to 19 February 1979. The theme music was c ...
''. Christopher Evans died of cancer in 1979, at the age of 48, shortly after ''The Mighty Micro'' had been published in hardcover and before the broadcast of the TV programmes.Programme director's postscript to the first episode of The Mighty Micro, October 1979.


Selected works

;''Cults of Unreason'' * * * * ;''The Mighty Micro'' * * ;''As editor'' * *


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Christopher 1931 births 1979 deaths People from Gwynedd 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel Alumni of University College London Alumni of the University of Reading Academics of the University of Reading British psychologists British computer scientists Place of death missing Anglo-Welsh writers Critics of Scientology Deaths from cancer in the United Kingdom 20th-century psychologists