Sir Samuel Crowe Curran (23 May 1912 – 15 February 1998), FRS, FRSE, was a physicist and the first Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde – the first of the new technical universities in Britain.He is the inventor of the scintillation counter, the proportional counter, and the proximity fuze. Colleagues generally referred to him simply as Sam Curran and latterly just as Sir Sam. To date, Curran remains the longest serving principal and vice chancellor of the University of Strathclyde, holding the post for 16 years, not counting his previous five years as principal of the Royal College of Science and Technology.