James Gerald Crowther (26 September 1899,Halifax – 30 March 1983)[1] was one of the founders ofscience journalism. He was appointed the scientific correspondent ofThe Manchester Guardian in 1928.[2]
James was the second child of James Crowther, the principal ofHalifax Technical School, and his wife, Alice, (née Ainscow), a music teacher.[1][3]
Crowther attendedBradford Grammar School, where he metRalph Fox who introduced him toMarxism.[3] He also developed a sufficient interest in mathematics to gain a scholarship to study mathematics and physics atTrinity College, Cambridge.[3] However his arrival there was delayed by the war, as he spent some time withArchibald Hill, applying a scientific approach toanti-aircraft gunnery.[3] During the time he spent with theAnti-Aircraft Experimental Section of theMunitions Inventions Department he gained experience ofscientific research.
He came to knowA. L. Rowse during a short stint while away from Trinity. He was teaching at Rowse's school 'by way of convalescing' after a collapse brought about by the strains of war work (A Cornish Childhood, 1998, p.210).
On 7 March 1923Albert Inkpin enrolled Crowther in theCommunist Party of Great Britain.[4]
In 1924 he married Dora Amy Royle de Bude and then started work forOxford University Press as a travelling salesman selling technical books. He was thus able to support Dora and her six-year-old daughter.[3]
He was appointed a commissioning editor forOxford University Press byHumphrey Sumner Milford.[2] In 1934 he married Franziscka Zarniko who he met in the USSR whilst visiting theUkrainian Institute of Physics and Technology (UPTI) in 1932.[3] Franziscka, who had ambitions to become a film maker was the German sister ofBarbara Ruhemann, a physicist at UPTI, married to Martin Ruhemann. A third sister Jutte had marriedKurt Mendelssohn.
Crowther remained in correspondence with theRussian physicistBoris Hessen following his visit toLondon as part of theSoviet delegation to the Second International Congress of theHistory of Science. This continued until Hessen's execution during thegreat purge during 1936.[5]
On retirement he moved toFlamborough Head,Yorkshire.[3] He died inDriffield on 30 March 1983.[1]
