2021 Medal Winners | francais

The 2021 CAP-COMP Peter Kirkby Memorial Medal for Outstanding Service to Canadian Physics

is awarded to

Henry M. Van Driel

"It is indeed an honour to be recognized for efforts to help the physics community in Canada. This represents a welcome bright spot this late in my career and and coming during this interminable pandemic. I thank my chair, Kimberley Strong, and John Sipe for initiating and preparing the nomination." winner quote

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) and the Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists (COMP) are pleased to announce that the 2021 CAP-COMP Peter Kirkby Memorial Medal for Outstanding Service to Canadian Physics is awarded to Henry M. Van Driel, University of Toronto, in recognition of to recognize his outstanding service to the Canadian physics community over a period of more than forty-five years, which has included international efforts, great service to the CAP, work with NSERC on behalf of Canadian physics, and editorial service to distinguished journals in North America. announcement

Because of Professor van Driel’s efforts, Canada punches far “above its weight” within the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), where he served from 1993 to 2002, and was vice-chair for three years. As Chair of Canadian National-IUPAP Liaison Committee, he helped elect as many as nine Canadian scientists serving on seventeen commissions, an outsized contribution for Canada. On the Canadian scene, following a serious funding reduction in 1994 for general and condensed matter physics he played a central role restoring the funding, and in establishing a CAP-NSERC liaison committee to strengthen CAP input into NSERC decisions. After the removal of the exemption of natural scientists from the professional engineering act of Ontario, as president of the CAP he recruited representatives of eight natural science societies to work with Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) to enhance natural scientists’ opportunities in industry. Earlier, while on the CAP Executive, he played a crucial role in changing CAP procedures to bolster its finances, and through his fund-raising efforts the first graduate scholarship for the CAP was established, which led to the establishment of the CAP Foundation and the endowment of further graduate scholarships.

The central role Professor van Driel has played across such a wide range of activities of importance to the physics community, over a period of time when he also supervised 30 PhD students, as well as chairing his Department from 2000-2004, exemplifies the ideals of service. nominator citation

ABOUT the Medal

The CAP-COMP Peter Kirkby Memorial Medal is intended to recognize service to the physics community by strengthening the Canadian physics community, by enhancing the profession of physical scientists, by effectively communicating physics to the non-scientific community, or by making physics more attractive as a career.

The Kirkby Memorial Medal, which is awarded biennially, was introduced in 1996 as a lasting memorial to Peter Kirkby and to recognize in others the qualities for which he is remembered best: a vision of a strong Canadian physics community, dedicated efforts to support that vision and, in all things, fairness, and honesty.

The medal will be forwarded to Henry van Driel with the congratulations of the community. medal description

ABOUT the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP)

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, Institutional, and Departmental Members. In addition to its learned activities, the CAP, through its charitable arm - the CAP Foundation, also undertakes a number of activities intended to encourage students to pursue a career in physics. cap description

ABOUT COMP

The Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists is a scientific and professional organization composed of over 700 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. joint description

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For more information, please contact:

Mrs. Francine Ford, Executive Director
Canadian Association of Physicists
Tel: 613-562-5614
E-mail: execdir@cap.ca
www.cap.cacap contact and joint contact