Chronology of a giant: an overview of the research contributions of Robert Dewar.

Prof. Robert (Bob) Leith Dewar, FAA, FAPS, FAIP (1944 - 2024) was a giant in the field of theoretical plasma physics, with important contributions in Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and in dynamical systems. These include MHD equilibrium and stability, MHD bal- looning modes, Taylor relaxation and Hamiltonian maps. Bob worked closely with computer simulation and with experimentalists and has made important contributions to toroidal magnetic fusion research and to astrophysics. Over the last decade he had 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. [1] 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.  In this proposed talk I will overview Bob’s major contributions to the field, and focus on his work to describe magnetic fields in toroidally asymmetric configurations with flux surfaces, islands and chaos.

[1] R. L. Dewar and Z. S. Qu, J. Plasma Phys., 88, 835880101 (2022)