Famous People in Canadian Nuclear History

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Famous People in Canadian Nuclear History
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Dr. Bertram Brockhouse
(19182003)

• July 1950 Joined the Atomic Energy Project of
  the National Research Council (later to become
  AECL)
• Studied the scattering of slow neutrons at NRX
• 1952 Developed a triple axis machine he called
  a large aperture double spectrometer to measure
  normal modes in a crystal

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Dr. Bertram Brockhouse
(19182003)

• 1962 Became Professor of Physics at McMaster
  University until his retirement in 1984
• 1994 Shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his
  work at NRX in the 1950s in the field of neutron
  scattering for condensed matter research

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Dr. Harold Johns
(19151998)

• 19391945 Served as Professor of Physics at the
  University of Alberta
• 1945 Moved to the University of Saskatchewan
  where he shared his time between starting a
  medical physics group and the new Saskatchewan
  Cancer Commission in Regina

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Dr. Harold Johns
(19151998)

• 1951 Revolutionized cancer treatment with the
  development of the Cobalt Bomb, the cobalt
  cancer therapy unit
• 1953 First published The Physics of Radiology,
  the first of four editions (last published in
  1983), the premier text in its field
• 1956 Became head of the Physics Division at the
  Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto

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Dr. George Laurence
(19051987)

• 1930 Joined the staff of the National Research
  Council of Canada (NRCC)
• Helped improve radiation dosage measurements in
  the treatment of cancer
• Helped develop radiation safety regulations for
  North America
• 1940 Conducted pioneering work on nuclear chain
  reactions

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Dr. George Laurence
(19051987)

• 1961 Became President of the Atomic Energy
  Control Board and helped establish the Canadian
  reactor safety protocol
• 1966 Received Medal for Achievement in Physics
  from the Canadian Association of Physicists
• 1975 Received the W.B. Lewis Medal from the CNA
• 1988 Awarded (posthumously) a special plaque
  from the American Nuclear Society

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Dr. George Laurence
(19051987)

• Was the first person in the world to induce
  fission by neutrons in large quantity of uranium
  surrounded by carbon
• 1945 Moved to Chalk River working on reactor
  designs for ZEEP, NRX and NRU
• 1950 Insisted on non-breeder power plant design
  for Canadian nuclear power. Led to the
  development of the natural uranium, heavy water
  reactor.

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Dr. Wilfred Lewis
(19081987)

• 193439 Served as research fellow with J.D.
  Cockroft on nuclear disintegration of particles
  accelerated by high voltages and then operating
  the Cambridge Cyclotron
• 1939 Joined the Air Ministrys
  Telecommunications Research Establishment in
  Britain for the duration of World War II

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Dr. Wilfred Lewis
(19081987)

• 1946 Became director of the National Research
  Council of Canadas Atomic Energy Division (now
  AECL) at Chalk River where he oversaw the
  building of the NRX and NRU
• Considered by many to be the father of the CANDU
  as he was involved in all major planning and
  decision making
• 1982 Awarded the Fermi award for outstanding
  lifetime contributions to energy science research

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Sir Ernest Rutherford
(18711937)

• Although born in New Zealand, Rutherford had a
  significant impact in Canada with his work on the
  atom
• 1898 Filled the position of Chair of Physics at
  McGill University in Montreal
• 1907 Filled the position of Chair of Physics at
  the University of Manchester in England
• 1908 Won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for
  demonstrating that radioactivity was the
  spontaneous decay of atoms

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Sir Ernest Rutherford
(18711937)

• 1911 Established the nuclear theory of the atom
• 1919 Announced he was the worlds first
  alchemist having successfully changed nitrogen
  into hydrogen and oxygen by alpha particle
  bombardment
• Later that year he became the Cavendish Professor
  of Physics at Cambridge University