Oral History: Archie Campbell (2019)

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Archie MacRobert Campbell (1940-2019) was educated at Edinburgh Academy and Trinity College, Glenalmond. In 1959, he was awarded a scholarship at Corpus Christi College at the University of Cambridge to study natural sciences. He received a B.A. in 1962 and a Ph.D. in 1965 in material science and continued his career at the University of Cambridge Engineering Department. In 1966, he became a Fellow of Christ’s College and at the University of Cambridge he was appointed a University Lecturer in 1974 and retired as Emeritus Professor of Electromagnetism in 2007. He also served the university as Pro-Proctor from 1985 to 1986, and then Proctor from 1986 to 1986.

During his forty-year career, Campbell pioneered the so-called "Campbell technique" for investigating the penetration of flux in bulk superconductors and, together with late Professor Jan Evetts, authored in 1972 the subject-defining monograph “Flux pinning in Type II superconductors” (Adv. Phys. 21, 199, 1972).

In 2010, Campbell received the IEEE Council on Superconductivity’s Award for Continuing and Significant Contributions in the Field of Applied Superconductivity (Materials). (Since 2013, the IEEE Dr. James Wong Award for Continuing and Significant Contributions to Applied Superconductor Materials Technology.) He was granted this award “for significant and sustained contributions in the development of superconducting materials by advancing the science of both low temperature and high temperature superconducting materials, in particular: for making contributions to the subject of flux pinning in Type II superconductors; for authoring, with the late Jan Evetts, the subject-defining monograph on critical currents in superconductors; and for his leadership of the Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Superconductivity at the University of Cambridge which promote research across a wide range of superconducting science and technology.”

To the dismay of family and friends, Campbell passed away unexpectedly, shortly after recording this oral history, on 21 November 2019.