CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICISTS

ASSOCIATION CANADIENNE DES PHYSICIENS ET PHYSICIENNES

CANADIAN ORGANIZATION OF MEDICAL PHYSICISTS

ORGANIZATION CANADIENNE DES PHYSICIENS MÉDICAUX

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) and the Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists (COMP) are pleased to announce that the 2006 CAP/COMP Memorial Peter Kirkby Medal for Outstanding Service to Canadian Physics is being awarded to Dr. Michael Steinitz, of St. Francis Xavier University for his significant contributions to Canadian Physics as a profession and to raising its profile with the general public, in particular through his efforts on the 2005 International Year of Physics

Professor Michael Steinitz has made many contributions to Canadian Physics. He was President of the Canadian Association of Physicists in 1998-99. He chaired the board of directors of the Canadian Insitute for Photonic Innovations from 1999-2002. Along with Bev Robertson, he co-authoured the Highly Qualified Personnel Section of the Review of Canadian Academic Physics, a document that positioned the physics community for success in the 1998 NSERC reallocation exercise.

This nomination, however, is prompted by Michael’s work, over the past couple of years, as chair of the CAP’s International Year of Physics Committee and the International Year of Physics Steering Committee. The highlights of the celebration were the Herzberg Lecture, presented by Clifford Will at the CAP Annual Congress in Vancouver last June, Dr. Will’s “Was Einstein Right?” tour of Canada during the fall of 2005, and the performance, at the Herzberg Lecture and selected stops on the tour, of Aaron Hryciw’s From Water to Ice by the Borealis String quartet. These events were enthusiastically received by large audiences at every stop and the public profile of physics in our communities benefited. These events were conceived by Michael and would not have occurred without his determination. While the thought of celebrating the anniversary of Einstein’s miraculous year with a string quartet might have occurred to a few others, no one except Michael could have known how to find a young person who was both a physicist and an accomplished composer and who could have delivered such a remarkable piece of work. I have included a couple of letters from local organizers of events and it would not have been difficult to get many more. While scheduling difficulties precluded having the string quartet at Memorial, Dr. Will’s lecture was, in itself, a remarkable event that, much to the astonishment of public relations staff at the university, may have been the most successful public lecture here to date.

While the lecture tour and quartet performances were the most visible manifestations of Michael’s leadership before and during the International Year of Physics, he was also very active behind the scenes. He assembled and distributed a simple Eddy Current demonstration apparatus for use in outreach events. He was the liaison between Canada and the International organizers of IYP celebrations. He was our “clearing house” for information, articles and queries regarding Canadian and International events and celebrations and he was an important media contact for information on the Event.

For his energy and enthusiastic leadership of the CAP’s celebration of 2005 and for his vision of what that event could be, Michael Steinitz is nominated for the Peter Kirkby Medal for Outstanding Service to Canadian Physics.

The Peter Kirkby Memorial Medal was introduced in 1996 and is awarded biennially. Dr. Steinitz will receive the 2006 Prize during the CAP's awards banquet to be held in St. Catharines on June 13th, 2006.

The Canadian Association of Physicists, founded in 1945, is a professional association representing over 1600 individual physicists and physics students in Canada, the U.S. and overseas, as well as a number of Corporate and Departmental Members. In addition to its learned activities, the CAP also undertakes a number of activities intended to encourage students to pursue a career in physics.

The Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists is a scientific and professional organization composed of 350 medical physicists and graduate students working in the areas of medical imaging, cancer therapy, and medical biophysics, plus Corporate Members who are involved in these areas. The COMP also has a close relationship with the Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine (CCPM), which is the national certification body in Canada for clinical competence in physics applied to medicine.

For more information, please contact:

Canadian Association of Physicists
Tel: (613) 562-5614
Fax: (613) 562-5615
E-mail: cap@physics.uottawa.ca

or

Nancy Barrett
Executive Director,
Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists
Tel: (613) 599-3491
Fax: (613) 599-1949
Email: nancy@medphys.ca