Robert P. Crease (; born 22 October 1953 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a philosopher and historian of science best known for his work in performance theory and historical research on Brookhaven National Laboratory. He is currently the chairman of the Department of Philosophy at Stony Brook University. Career Crease is co-editor of the scholarly journal Physics in Perspective and writes a monthly column, "Critical Point", for the international physics magazine Physics World. In philosophy his interests lie in performance theory, expertise, and trust. In history of science his interest focuses on the history of Brookhaven National Laboratory, one of the first three U.S. national laboratories; he is co-founder of the Laboratory History conferences which have been held bi-annually since 1999. In 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) in the United States, and of the Institute of Physics (IOP) in London. He has written, co-written, translated, or edited over a dozen books. His articles have appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other periodicals. History of science Crease began to work on the history of Brookhaven National Laboratory shortly after arriving at Stony Brook in 1987. Brookhaven, established in 1947 and the site of several Nobel-prizewinning work, was among the first three U.S. National Laboratories. Due to its scientific ambitions and geographical location (not far from New York City), Brookhaven has experienced the tensions and conflicts affecting U.S. science-society relations in general. These tensions and conflicts affect the management of science, science policy, the construction of large scientific facilities, and environmental concerns and community trust. Crease has written about the history of Brookhaven's first quarter-century in Making Physics: A Biography of Brookhaven National Laboratory (University of Chicago Press, 1999). His articles about Brookhaven include: "The National Synchrotron Light Source, Part I: Bright Idea" – Physics in Perspective 10 (2008), pp. 438–467. "The National Synchrotron Light Source, Part II: The Bakeout" – Physics in Perspective 11 (2009), pp. 15–45. "Recombinant Science: The Birth of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)" – Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences, 38:4, pp. 535–568. "Quenched! The ISABELLE Saga, Part 1" – Physics in Perspective 7, Sept. 2005. "Quenched! The ISABELLE Saga, Part 2" – "Physics in Perspective 7, Dec. 2005. "Anxious History: The High Flux Beam Reactor and Brookhaven National Laboratory" – Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 32:1 (2001), pp. 41–56.