George Stanley Rushbrooke

George Stanley Rushbrooke (19 January 1915 – 14 December 1995) was a 20th century British theoretical physicist.

Biography

Rushbrooke was born in Willenhall, one of twin sons of George Henry Rushbrooke, baker and confectioner, and Frances Isabel (née Wright). After attending a small private school he moved, at age 10, to Wolverhampton Grammar School, from where he gained a State Scholarship and passed the entrance scholarship exam to St John's College, Cambridge. He entered the college in October 1933, where he read mathematics and gained Firsts throughout his examinations. He and Fred Hoyle were jointly awarded the Mayhew Prize in 1936, as the students showing the greatest distinction in applied mathematics. (theory of liquids).

In 1949 Rushbrooke married Thelma Barbara Cox, whom he had met there. She suffered from depression, especially so a year after they were married. By this time Rushbrooke had been appointed to a new chair of theoretical physics at King’s College, Newcastle. After Thelma’s illness, and a period in hospital himself, he moved to his new job in 1951, where he remained until retirement as emeritus professor in 1980. His two main areas of research were the theory of liquids and critical phenomena.

Reflecting on Rushbrooke’s career, Domb stated that "the most significant contribution that Rushbrooke made in theoretical chemistry was undoubtedly what came to be known as the Coulson-Rushbooke theorem". He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1954, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1982.

The Rushbrookes, who were childless, lived in Belle Vue Avenue, Gosforth. Thelma died on 5 March 1977. George Stanley died on 14 December 1995, and was survived by his twin brother John Yeomans, a mathematician, who died in 2004.

Posts held

1938–39 Research Assistant, University of Bristol 1939–44 Senior DSIR award; Carnegie Teaching Fellowship, University College, Dundee 1945–47 Research Lecturer, department of physics, University of Leeds. 1947-48 Lecturer in Mathematical Chemistry, Leeds. 1948–51 Senior Lecturer in Theoretical Physics, Oxford and lecturer in Mathematics, University College, Oxford 1951–80 Professor of Theoretical Physics, Newcastle University 1962–63 Visiting Professor Department of Chemistry, University of Oregon 1962–67 Editor of Molecular Physics 1965–80 Head of Department of Theoretical Physics 1967 Visiting Professor of Physics and Chemistry, Rice University 1972–80 Deputy Head, School of Physics, Newcastle 1981 Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow