CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICISTS

ASSOCIATION CANADIENNE DES PHYSICIENS ET PHYSICIENNES

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) is pleased to announce that the 2007 CAP Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Physics is awarded to Dr. David Dunlop, University of Toronto at Mississauga for his work in fine-particle magnetism, and its application to the study of the history of the Earth's magnetic field, and the behaviour of magnetic minerals on the Moon and Mars.

David J. Dunlop of the Department of Physics, University of Toronto is a world authority on fine-particle magnetism and its applications to recording media and to rocks and minerals in nature. He and his research group were the first to demonstrate in the laboratory the mechanism that permits thermoremanent magnetism acquired at mid-ocean ridges (the source of magnetic “stripes” recording seafloor spreading) to survive seawater alteration of the magnetic minerals. His group pioneered the development of “micromagnetic” modeling of the sub-domain structure of ferromagnetic particles. They published what is still the oldest determination of the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field, 3.5 billion years ago. Dr. Dunlop has also made important contributions to understanding hysteresis and the particle-size dependence of magnetic minerals on the properties, experimental domain structures, and the unique behaviour of magnetic minerals on the Moon and Mars. Through wide-ranging public lectures in Canada and abroad, he has carried the excitement of Martian magnetism, early magnetic fields of the Earth and other planets, and the magnetic signatures of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics to a broad audience. He is also the senior author of the standard text on rock magnetism.

The CAP Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Physics was introduced in 1956 and is awarded annually. Dr. Dunlop will receive the 2007 Prize during the CAP's awards banquet to be held in Saskatoon on June 19th, 2007.

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.

For more information, please contact:

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