William James Stirling CBE. 4 February 1953—9 November 2018

Abstract

James Stirling's wide-ranging contributions to the development and application of quantum chromodynamics were central in verifying QCD as the correct theory of strong interactions, and in computing precise predictions for all types of collider processes. He published more than 300 papers on a vast range of phenomenological topics, including some of the most highly cited of all time in particle physics. His research, always full of insight, focused on the confrontation of theoretical predictions with experimental results. Amongst many key contributions, he developed the helicity amplitude method and used it to show that the CERN ‘monojet’ events, thought to be a possible signal of new physics, were due to vector boson plus jet production. The method has since facilitated the calculation of many other important processes. At Durham he formed a famous long-standing collaboration that set the standard for determining the quark and gluon distributions in the proton. Besides his intellectual brilliance, his personal qualities of humility, modesty, diligence and fairness made him an outstanding scientific leader and administrator. He played a major role in the foundation of the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology in Durham and served as its first Director. In 2005 he was appointed Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research at Durham. He moved to the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge in 2008, becoming Head of the Department of Physics in 2011. Then in 2013 he was appointed to the newly created position of Provost, the chief academic officer, at Imperial College, London, from which he retired in August 2018.