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It is with deep regret that we pass on the news that Emeritus Professor Robert (Bob) Leith Dewar FAA FAPS FAIP passed away on 5 April in Cambridge UK following a stroke.

Bob was a giant in the field of theoretical plasma physics, with important contributions in Magnetohydrodymanics (MHD) and in dynamical systems. These include MHD equilibrium and stability, MHD ballooning modes, Taylor relaxation and Hamiltonian maps. Bob worked closely with computer simulation and with experimentalists and has made important contributions to magnetic fusion research and to astrophysics. Recently he has been instrumental in the development of a multiple region relaxed MHD model to describe general stellarator fields, and he was presently working on a generalisation of such models to systems that preserve magnetic helicity with a weak ideal Ohm’s law constraint.

Bob was a graduate (BSc, MSc) of the University of Melbourne, and obtained a PhD in 1970 from Princeton University.  He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland (1970-71), a staff scientist of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (1971-73, 1977-82), and an academic of the ANU (1974-1977, 1982-2011), with Emeritus Professor status at the ANUfrom 2011 to the present.  He initiated several major collaborations across physics and mathematics, including the National Plasma Fusion Research Facility, the Australian Research Council Complex Open Systems Research Network, and led the ANU’s plasma theory and modelling group until retirement in 2011.  Perhaps most importantly, he has left a legacy in both research and teaching, spanning 5 postdocs, 16 PhD, and many Masters and Honours students. Many of these now hold prominent positions in the field. 

Bob was undertaking a 6-month sabbatical at the Isaac Newton Institute (INI) for Mathematical Sciences, where he was an active participant in the programme on Anti-Diffusive Dynamics, interacting with colleagues from a broad range of research areas. He recently celebrated his 80th birthday.  Colleagues and staff at INI are deeply saddened by his sudden death.

Bob is survived by his daughter Sophie Dewar and granddaughter Dara, his son-in-law Brendan, and his sisters Jenny and Shona Dewar.  He will be deeply missed by friends and colleagues of the ANU and international community. 

For more details and to leave a message of condolence or tribute story, visit the ANU MSI website.