History of Physics in Canada

Universities

The first professors of natural philosophy (physics combined with mathematics) were appointed at Dalhousie University in 1838 and at King's College (later University of Toronto) in 1843. Professorships were established at Dalhousie University (1879), University of Toronto (1887) and McGill University (1890). The professors were occupied primarily by teaching, doing little original research; however, the European discoveries of the 1890s (X-rays, radioactivity, electrons, etc) inspired Canadian professors to become active in the development of their subject. Especially prominent were Ernest Rutherford (McGill University) and Sir John Cunningham McLennan (University of Toronto). Establishment of graduate programs with research followed.

Until after the First World War, the University of Toronto and McGill University were the only Canadian universities granting PhDs in physics. However, especially after the Second World War, many universities set up comprehensive graduate study and research programs. Between 1974 and 1985, 1,075 PhDs in physics were awarded by 28 universities (about 31per cent at the University of Toronto).

The early slow growth of physics research was largely the result of financial difficulties. Establishment in 1916 of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) promoted the development of science through scholarships for graduate students and apparatus grants to professors. Financial assistance from federal and provincial government sources increased, especially after the Second World War. In 1980 the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (established 1978) took the place of the NRC as the main federal granting agency.

Dalhousie University can probably lay claim to the first meaningful research by a physics professor. James Gordon MacGregor was appointed in 1879 and, during the next 20 years, published some 50 papers and memoirs. H.L. Bronson, department head from 1910 to 1956, inspired many students, including G.H. Henderson (radioactivity, pleochroic halos) and W.J. Archibald (theoretical physics), to take up careers in physics.

McGill University got off to an excellent start with H.L. Callendar and Ernest Rutherford as Macdonald professors of physics. Important discoveries in radioactivity and nuclear physics were made by Rutherford and numerous assistants, some of whom (e.g., Henry Marshall Tory, J.A. Gray, H.L. Bronson, Robert William Boyle) played vital roles in the development of science in other parts of the country. Nuclear physics at McGill University culminated in 1949 in establishment of the Radiation Laboratory with the first cyclotron in Canada. This development was due chiefly to John Stuart Foster, world-renowned for his work on the Stark effect. The Radiation Laboratory was headed by R.E. Bell for many years, and J.M. Robson, a nuclear physicist, was head of the physics department. In the 1920s, L.V. King did outstanding work in mathematical physics. David Arnold Keys and A.S. Eve initiated early work on geophysics and, somewhat later, J.S. Marshall, on atmospheric physics. McGill University was the first Canadian university to develop a theoretical physics group and has produced numerous theorists with international reputations.

J.C. McLennan was director of the physics laboratory at the University of Toronto from 1906 to 1932. His first researches were on atmospheric conductivity and cathode rays, but he shifted to atomic spectroscopy with the advent of the Bohr atom in 1912. Optics and spectroscopy have continued to be one of the main interests of the department with M.F. Crawford, H.L. Welsh, Elizabeth J. Allin and, since 1965, Boris Peter Stoicheff as leader of a large laser group. In the 1920s McLennan, Gordon Merritt Shrum and others built a helium liquefier, the first in North America, for work on metals and solidified gases at low temperatures; this type of work is still actively pursued. During this early period, Eli Franklin Burton supervised research in colloid physics and, in the late 1930s, he and his students built the first high-resolution electron microscope in North America.

In the late 1920s L. Gilchrist began work in geophysics which later, under John Tuzo Wilson, became one of the largest research groups in the department. In the 1960s a program in atmospheric physics was inaugurated. Extensive work was begun in high-energy particle physics in the early 1960s with K.G. McNeill and Albert Edward Litherland, and in medical biophysics with Harold Elford Johns. Until the 1960s, theoretical physics was chiefly the concern of the department of applied mathematics which included J.L. Synge and L. Infeld. However, with the appointment of J. Van Kranendonk in 1958, a strong theoretical section, embracing most of the branches of modern physics, was set up in the physics department.

The University of British Columbia (UBC) and McMaster University, founded around the turn of the century, demonstrated a remarkable rise in scientific productivity in the 1940s. At UBC the change resulted from the appointment of G.M. Shrum (head 1938-61) and others (including G.M. Volkoff, M. Bloom, R.D. Russell and J.B. Warren), which made possible a broad spectrum of teaching and research in many branches of physics. In the 1970s, UBC became the site of TRIUMF (the Tri-University Meson Facility), one of the most important nuclear facilities in Canada. McMaster University became an important centre of Canadian science following appointment of Henry George Thode in 1939. His work on mass spectroscopy and isotope abundances led to intensive work on various aspects of nuclear physics by M.W. Johns, H.E. Duckworth, Bertram Neville Brockhouse and others. In 1957 a research reactor was set up, the first university reactor in the Commonwealth, followed in the 1970s by a particle-accelerator laboratory with extensive facilities. McMaster University has achieved prominence in other research fields; e.g., spectroscopy (A.B. McLay), solid state physics, biophysics and theoretical physics (M.H. Preston, J. Carbotte). Research is interdisciplinary (e.g., in the Institute for Materials Research with J.A. Morrison as director).

R.W. Boyle became professor of physics at the University of Alberta in 1912 and began extensive research in ultrasonics. Somewhat later, S. Smith and R.J. Lang began important work in optics and spectroscopy. Research has gradually broadened to include geophysics (J.A. Jacobs) and solid state, nuclear, medical and theoretical physics (A.B. Bhatia, Werner Israel).

At Université Laval, Italian physicist F. Rasetti began a new era in physics teaching and research (1939-47). Rasetti was followed by his friend E. Persico (1947-50) and John Larkin Kerwin, P. Marmet, A. Boivin and others. Main areas of research are optics, atomic and molecular physics, nuclear and theoretical physics. Like Laval, Université de Montréal has greatly increased its contributions to Canadian physics in the last 30 years. The two main areas of research are nuclear and plasma physics and associated theory, developed by P. Demers, P. Lorrain and others.

The department at the University of Manitoba was begun by F. Allen, who made applications of physics to physiology. After the Second World War, active work on nuclear physics was begun by R.W. Pringle and expanded rapidly by B.G. Hogg and others. More recently, A.H. Morrish has instituted important work on magnetic materials. The department at the University of Saskatchewan developed during the long headship (1924-56) of E.L. Harrington. Upper atmospheric research, begun by B.W. Currie in 1932, led to the present Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies with an international reputation. In the period 1935-45, Gerhard Herzberg worked on atomic and molecular structures. In the 1950s the department gained renown with its betatron in photonuclear physics and radiation therapy, including development of a cobalt-60 unit by Harold Elford Johns and others. Plasma physics is also an important field of study. The younger western universities, University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University and University of Calgary, have rapidly developing physics departments.

Queen's University in Kingston and Western University (formerly University of Western Ontario) have made notable contributions to physics. Research and graduate work at Queen's University was initiated by A.L. Clark in the 1920s. Nuclear physics research was begun by J.A. Gray and continued with B.W. Sargent, A.T. Stewart and others. Other fields of research are optics (initiated early by J.K. Robertson), microwave spectroscopy and solid state physics. At UWO rapid development of research began in the 1940s with a radar program. The work begun by R.C. Dearle, G.A. Woonton and others was continued by P.A. Forsyth, culminating in the Centre for Radio Science (1967), which studies problems in atmospheric and ionospheric physics. Nuclear research has made considerable progress, especially in the scattering of positrons (J.W. McGowan).

The University of Waterloo was established in the late 1950s. The physics department immediately embarked on a program of research in experimental and theoretical solid state physics, with connected areas in laser physics and microwave spectroscopy. Geophysics and biophysics are also studied. York University has a Centre of Research for Experimental Space Sciences (Ralph W. Nicholls was founding director). The universities of Ottawa, Windsor, Guelph and Carleton (with its particle physics program initiated by E.P. Hincks) have promising futures. Concordia University, L'École Polytechnique de Montréal and the Université def Sherbrooke, University of New Brunswick, St Francis Xavier University and Memorial University of Newfoundland conduct advanced studies in physics.

Physics staff members and graduates played an important role in both world wars. In the First World War J.C. McLennan became director of experimental research for the British Admiralty and also organized production of helium from Canadian natural-gas wells; R.W. Boyle conducted ultrasonic experiments in the Admiralty antisubmarine division. In the Second World War university staffs were in danger of being completely depleted by requests for assistance from NRC and other government and national defence organizations. In addition, several universities gave concentrated courses in physics and electronics to enlisted personnel destined to operate radar and signal devices in the army, navy and air force.

Federal Research

The NRC has played a major role in physics research. In 1928, the NRC established laboratories in Ottawa, including a Division of Physics with R.W. Boyle as director. The division expanded very rapidly after the outbreak of the Second World War; areas of study important to the war effort included nuclear physics, submarine detection and minesweeping devices, aerial photography and range finders. To implement results in optics and radar, Research Enterprises Ltd was set up as a crown corporation.

A large part of the physics staff dispersed at the end of the war; however, things began to improve with the appointment in 1948 of Herzberg and introduction in 1949 of a program of postdoctoral assistants with one- or two-year terms. Applied physics became a separate division (1955), under L.E. Howlett. The spectroscopy section of the pure physics division rapidly attained world renown with the work of Herzberg, A.E. Douglas, D.A. Ramsay, T. Oka and others.

In the 1970s the spectroscopy section was incorporated with astronomy and astrophysics in the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics. The solid state section under D.K.C. MacDonald (1951-63) also attained renown. After establishment of the Herzberg Institute, the divisions of physics and applied physics were reunited. Sections of this division include electric and time standards, high-energy physics and solid state science.

In 1942 a British-Canadian atomic energy project, under NRC administration, was begun in Montreal, leading to the building of NRX, a heavy-water uranium research reactor, which began operation in 1947 at Chalk River (now Laurentian Hills), Ontario. In 1952 administration of the project was transferred to Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. In 1957 a much larger reactor, NRU, came into operation, and an MP Tandem Van de Graaf accelerator was installed. The aim of this program was to develop research reactors for nuclear experimentation and nuclear power reactors for generation of electricity. Wilfrid Bennett Lewis was in charge of research. Many Canadian physicists have been involved in the project, including G.C. Laurence, B.W. Sargent, J.M. Robson (neutron decay), R.E. Bell, B.N. Brockhouse (neutron scattering), E.P. Hincks (cosmic rays) and A.E. Litherland.

Provincial Research

Physics-related research is carried out by many of the eight provincial research organizations, the oldest being the Alberta Research Council (established 1921). The hydroelectric corporations of most provinces have research facilities relating to electric power generation and transmission, the largest of these being that of Hydro-Québec. (See also Hydroelectricity in Canada.)

Industrial Research

Compared with other industrialized nations, Canada shows a rather low level of industrial research and development. Many of the better industrial laboratories doing physics-related research have been set up as Canadian subsidiaries of American companies. For example, the Radio Corporation of America maintained for many years the RCA Canadian Research and Development Laboratories Ltd (under M.B. Bachynski from 1958); in 1976 a large part of its work was taken over by MPB Technologies Inc, with Bachynski as president and director. The Xerox Research Centre of Canada Ltd is a recent example of an American firm locating a part of its research in Canada. Bell-Northern Research Ltd is doing excellent work.