CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICISTS

ASSOCIATION CANADIENNE DES PHYSICIENS ET PHYSICIENNES

1998 CAP "GOLD" MEDAL

Ottawa, April 24^th, 1998 - The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) is pleased to announce that its premier medal, the 1998 CAP Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Physics, will be awarded to Dr. Ernest R. Kanasewich, Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta, for his internationally lauded research in the field of geophysics.

Dr. Kanasewich's major research activity has involved the imaging of the Earth's crust using seismic waves. His development of reflection seismology led to the ability to achieve the very high resolution crusted structure maps necessary in geophysical exploration today. Dr. Kanasewich was also one of the leading pioneers in the development of seismic tomography, and in its application to investigations of oil sand deposits. He has played a leading role in Canada's national geoscience project, LITHOPROBE.

Dr. Kanasewich has been instrumental in building an international reputation for the geophysics program at the University of Alberta.

Dr. Kanasewich received his B.Sc. in physics in 1952 and his M.Sc. degree in 1960, both from the University of Alberta. In the period from 1952 to 1956 he worked as a geophysicist with Geophysical Services International Corp. He then went on to obtain his Ph.D. from the Department of Physics at the University of British Columbia in 1962. Since 1963 he has been a faculty member at the University of Alberta. From 1990 to 1996, he was Chairman of the Department of Physics. He was also Director of the Institute of Geophysics, Meteorology and Space Physics from 1991 to 1992. Dr. Kanasewich has recently retired and is now Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta.

Dr. Kanasewich has received numerous honours and distinctions. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1975, and he has been granted Honorary Life Membership in the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. He was awarded the J. Tuzo Wilson Medal of the Canadian Geophysical Union in 1988 and named McCalla Professor of the University of Alberta in 1989.

The CAP Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Physics was introduced in 1954 and is awarded annually. The 1998 Medal will be presented to Dr. Kanasewich during the CAP's awards banquet to be held at the University of Waterloo on June 16^th, 1998.

The Canadian Association of Physicists was founded in 1945 and represents over 1600 individual physicists and physics students as well as Corporate and Departmental Members. In addition to its learned-soceity activities, the CAP is active in the areas of professionalism, science policy and the promotion of scientific research and education.

For more information, please contact:
Canadian Association of Physicists
Tel: (613) 562-5614
Fax: (613) 562-5615
E-mail: cap@physics.uottawa.ca