Anyone ever heard of physics author named Hilary. D. Brewster ?

[bobaustin]

Anyone ever heard of physics author named "Hilary. D. Brewster"?

http://mlbd.com/AuthorDecription.aspx?id=10950

Hilary D. Brewster
Hilary. D. Brewster is a well known author of some best selling books on topics that prominently includes Relativity, Digital Electronics, Fluid Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, Electrostatics, and Mathematical Physics, etc. He is well known for his writings on hyper-physics and applied physics books. Having equipped with the degree in Physics, his loads of experience is very valuable in the shaping of this book. On the different parts of the world, Prof. Hilary. D. Brewster taught applied physics. Prof. Hilary. D. Brewster, a graduate of Yale University, was teaching hyper-physics, he began his teaching career at the secondary level, teaching physics and chemistry to students at Wisconsin, an independent school in USA. In 2001, Professor Hilary. D. Brewster received his Ph.D., then he went on to teach introductory physics (in both majors and non-majors courses) and applied science at University of Pennsylvania, where he became a tenured professor.

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There is no professor at Penn named Hilary Brewster!

 

[cristo]

That doesn't sound like it was originally written in English.

 

[corvus606]

It looks like her books are published by the Oxford Book Company, Jaipur, India...
Have anyone read any of her books?

 

[Daverz]

Hilary with one L is generally a male given name. Most google hits refer to books published in India, and this thread is the top hit.

 

[alxm]

Weird..

There is no professor at Penn named Hilary Brewster!

Doing a bit of searching and I seem to fail to find any physics papers from the last 10-15 years from any H. Brewster at all.

I can't say I did a very thorough investigation, but thorough enough that I'd have expected to find someone if the person existed. E.g. if he got his PhD in 2001, you'd expect some papers from an H Brewster in (at least) the 1998-2001 time frame. I can't seem to find any. Indeed, a lot fewer articles than I'd expect by any 'Brewster's. Guess it's a less common name that I thought. Not a single H Brewster in any AIP journal in the last 15 years, for instance (they publish J App Phys and App Phys Lett, ostensibly this person's field)

[STRIKE]
Am I wrong to suspect this is a made-up personality created to lend credibility to textbooks ghostwritten by some Indian?[/STRIKE]

Edit: Apparently even worse, see below.

 

[alxm]

I've cracked it. From that site's page on "Mathematical Physics" by this "Brewster":

Mathematical Physics is an introduction to such basic mathematical structures as groups vector spaces topological spaces measure spaces and Hilbert space. Geroch uses category theory to emphasize both the interrelationships among different structures and the unity of mathematics. Perhaps the most valuable feature of the book is the illuminating intuitive discussion of the “whys” of proofs and of axioms and definitions. This book will be especially helpful to those working in theoretical physics, including such areas as relativity, particle physics and astrophysics.

They slipped up. Who is Geroch if this book was written by "Brewster"? It quickly turns out that this is the verbatim publisher's description for Geroch's https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226288625/?tag=pfamazon01-20

I didn't bother looking further, I expect you'll find the same with the other titles here. What we've got here, is a publisher selling pirated and/or plagiarized books by other authors under a fake name. (since I see no reason to believe the books are authentic when the author and description clearly isn't)

 

[Kob]

I arrived at this forum trying to find more about this "Brewster". I looked at the "Heat and Thermodynamics" book of his - a hodgepodge of thermal and thermo subjects, mixing an analytical approach here and there with lab measurements and advice. The material looks like a "copy/paste" from various sources. The English is a bit foreign.

On the cover: "Hilary D. Brewster".
On the title page inside: "Hilary D. Brewster". No titles given - not even "Dr.". The Publisher:
"Oxford Book Company, Jaipur, India"
The next page: Publisher's details and ISBN, "© Reserved" without a reference to the copyrights owner. A disclaimer at the bottom: "...Responsibility for the facts stated,
opinions expressed, conclusions reached and plagiarism, if any, in this volume is
entirely that of the Author..."
Preface page: signed by "Prabhat Kumar Choudhary"

My opinion: The book is possibly a keeper if found at a garage sale for $1 or less.