Bas Pease

Rendel Sebastian "Bas" Pease FRS (2 November 1922 – 17 October 2004) was a British physicist who strongly opposed nuclear weapons while advocating the use of nuclear fusion as a clean source of power.

Biography

Pease was born at 9 Brunswick Walk, Cambridge. His father was the geneticist Michael Pease, son of Edward Reynolds Pease. His mother was Helen Bowen Wedgwood, daughter of Josiah Wedgwood IV. He was the four times great-grandson of the potter Josiah Wedgwood. Until he was about 11 years old, Pease was taught at home, mainly by his mother; from where he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1940, but his studies in natural sciences were interrupted in 1942 by the war; he was able to resume them in 1946 and gained a 2(ii) in Physics the following year.

On 7 December 1942 he was called up for military service as a science officer in the operational research department, RAF Bomber Command, High Wycombe. He was part of a team of 30 working on Operation Glimmer, a scheme to convince the Germans that Britain was planning a landing at the mouth of the Pas de Calais.