[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 19, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E264-E265]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     TRIBUTE TO PETER ANDREW STURROCK, PH.D. ON HIS 100TH BIRTHDAY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 19, 2024

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Peter Andrew Sturrock, 
Ph.D., who celebrates the centennial of his birth on March 20, 2024.
  Dr. Sturrock grew up in Essex, England and studied at Palmers School, 
Grays, Essex, where his favorite subject was mathematics. He studied 
mathematics at Cambridge University, then helped develop radar systems 
at what is now the Royal Radar Establishment. He earned a scholarship 
to St. John's College where he was elected to a fellowship.
  Dr. Sturrock then pursued work in electron physics at the Cavendish 
Laboratory, Cambridge, the National Bureau of Standards, and the Ecole 
Normale Superieure at the University of Paris.
  In 1951, Dr. Sturrock earned his Ph.D in astrophysics. He researched 
nuclear physics at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment; plasma 
physics at St. John's College, Cambridge; microwave tubes at Stanford 
University; and accelerator physics at the European Organization for 
Nuclear Research. He invented a number of implements, including a novel 
microwave tube later dubbed the ``Free electron laser.''
  In 1961, Dr. Sturrock was appointed Professor of Applied Physics at 
Stanford University, where he lived for nearly 40 years with his wife 
Marilyn. He is Emeritus Professor of Applied Physics at Stanford and 
Emeritus Director of the Center for Space Science and Astrophysics. In 
1990, he was awarded the Arctowski Medal from the National Academy of 
Sciences. Dr. Sturrock founded and then served as president for many 
years at the Society for Scientific Exploration. He also served as 
Chairman of the Plasma Physics Division and the Solar Physics Division 
of the American Astronomical Society.
  In 2009, Dr. Sturrock published his autobiography, A Tale of Two 
Sciences: Memoirs of a Dissident Scientist, which covered both his 
research in conventional physics and his less mainstream 
investigations.
  In 2013, he published AKA Shakespeare: A Scientific Approach to the 
Authorship Question. In this book, he lays out a method for weighing 
evidence which he developed for studying pulsars. Dr. Sturrock then 
invites the reader to apply the method to tabulate their own ``degree 
of belief'' in three different candidates for authorship of the works 
usually attributed to Shakespeare.
  He was elected a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society 
in 2020 and has a deep interest in unidentified flying objects.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in 
honoring Peter

[[Page E265]]

Sturrock on achieving this extraordinary milestone and in thanking him 
for his lifetime of superb scientific endeavors. He is, indeed, a 
national treasure.

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