Archie MacRobert Campbell headshot

Archie MacRobert Campbell

Affiliation
Prof. Emeritus, University of Cambridge
IEEE Region
Region 08 (Africa, Europe, Middle East)

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Obituary

December 02, 2019. It is with great sadness that we inform the scientific and cryogenic communities that Professor Archie Campbell died on Thursday, 21 November 2019. Archie passed away peacefully at home after a short illness. He is survived by his wife, Anne, his children Frances, Emily, and Diarmid, and his eight grandchildren.

Archie was appointed a University Lecturer in the Department of Engineering in 1974 and was a Professor of Electromagnetism at the University of Cambridge, also serving the University as Pro-Proctor from 1985 to 1986, and then Proctor from 1986 to 1987. He had been a Fellow of Christ’s College since 1966 and celebrated 50 years in this role three years ago.

Archie had a long and distinguished career in his field, spanning over 40 years. He pioneered the so-called "Campbell technique" for investigating the penetration of flux in bulk superconductors and, together with late Prof. Jan Evetts, authored in 1972 the subject-defining monograph “Flux pinning in Type II superconductors” (Adv. Phys. 21, 199, 1972). Upon his retirement from the Department of Engineering in September 2007, the ‘Campbell Conference’ was held to recognize his significant contributions to studies of flux pinning in Type II superconductors, ac losses, and understanding of the critical state in superconducting materials. Archie remained an active member of the Cambridge Bulk Superconductivity Research Group and the Department of Engineering following his retirement and continued to play a key role in the development and understanding of applied superconductivity right up to his death. He was a much-loved and highly regarded colleague and collaborator, and his loss will be felt by the entire international superconductivity community.
- David Cardwell

Archie Campbell was one of the few exceptionally knowledgeable and globally respected colleagues in the field of applied superconductivity with deep insight in all aspects of flux pinning in superconductors, low Tc as well as high Tc. My memory goes back to our first encounter during the 11th International Conference on Low Temperature Physics, St. Andrews, 1968, and continues with our International Discussion Meeting on Flux Pinning in Superconductors in 1974 (Sonnenberg, Germany), followed thereafter by a larger number of joint Europe-Japan-US workshops. Archie always contributed creative, often unconventional and novel ideas to these discussion workshops. Now, after his passing, he leaves an enormous gap, which is difficult to bridge.
- Herbert C. Freyhardt

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