Publication
URSI - Radio Science Bulletin no. 289, June 1999
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Canada - Profile of a Member Committee
G.Y. Delisle, E.V. Jull, & P.H. Wittke
Canada joined URSI in 1952, relatively late compared to its sister
commonwealth countries Australia (1922) and New Zealand (1931).
Radio research in Canada had grown rapidly under the direction of a
National Research Council (NRC) of Canada Associate Committee on Radio
Research, during the 1939-45 war. By 1950, with many NRC radio researchers
no longer in defence work, an Associate Committee on Radio Science was formed.
In 1951, this became also the Canadian Committee for URSI under the
chairmanship of D.W.R. McKinley, then Associate Director of the Radio and
Electrical Engineering Division of NRC.
The committee consisted of six senior scientists and engineers from government
laboratories and departments concerned with radio science and its
applications, and five radio physicists, an electrical engineer and a
radioastronomer from the universities. By 1968 the size of the committee
had grown to 23 members from government, universities and industry.
In 1971 the size of the committee was cut in half, to consist of a Committee
Chairman, a Past Chairman, a Secretary and a Chairman for each of the
eight Commissions.
Canadian radio scientists quickly became involved in URSI affairs.
G.A.Woonton of McGill University in 1952 became Chairman of Commission VII
on radio electronics and later (1957-63) a Vice President of URSI. Woonton
also organized the 1952 McGill Symposium on Microwave Optics, the forerunner
of the Triennial Commission B Symposia on Electromagnetic Wave Theory.
The third such meeting was held in 1959, organized by G.Sinclair, of the
University of Toronto, who became Commission VI (Radio Waves and Circuits)
Chairman in 1957. The next Commission B Symposium will be held in Victoria,
British Columbia, in 2001. Two early committee members were B.G. Ballard
and J.H. Chapman. Ballard was appointed President of the National Research
Council of Canada and Chapman was the first winner of the John Howard
Dellinger Gold Medal. Joint US/Canada URSI meetings were held in Ottawa
in 1953, 1962 and 1967 and the 1969 URSI General Assembly was held in Ottawa.
In 1973 an NRC Bureau of International Relations was formed which became the
administrative body for all Canadian member committees of the international
scientific and technical unions. The Canadian committee ceased to have a
dual role as a government advisory committee and an URSI committee. Since
then, the committee has been comprised of a Chairman, a Past Chairman, a
Secretary and a Chairman for each of the technical commissions. These are
selected for three or six-year terms with due regard for geographical,
institutional and linguistic representation. Meetings are held usually
once a year in Ottawa.
The 1980 North American Radio Science Meeting and IEEE Antennas and
Propagation International Symposium was held at Laval University, Quebec, and
organized by J.A.Cummins and G.Y.Delisle. This was the first of a series of
successful regional meetings jointly arranged by US and Canadian URSI and
the IEEE/AP-S. The second followed in 1985 at the University of British
Columbia in Vancouver, organized by K.S.McCormick and E.V. Jull, a third
in 1991 at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, under the
chairmanship of A.R.Webster, and the fourth in 1997, in Montreal, Quebec,
under the joint chairmanship of G.Y. Delisle and S.J. Kubina. The splendid
cooperation enjoyed at these meetings is an outcome of the close relations
between US and Canadian radio scientists and IEEE Antennas and Propagation
Society members.
The National Research Council of Canada, which was instrumental in the
establishment of the Canadian National Committee and which is the adhering
member for Canada in international scientific and technical organizations,
over the past years has been reviewing its participation in these
organizations. Its support has been critical in the past to the development
and activities of the Canadian National Committee for URSI.
Currently, the Canadian National Committee is supported jointly by the
International Affairs Office and the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics,
both of the National Research Council of Canada. We look forward to
their continuing participation over the coming years.
In the 1990's, the Canadian committee has seen its greatest participation
in URSI at the international level, with the Presidency of E.V. Jull, 1993-96
and the Vice-presidency of M.A. Stuchly, 1996-99. Commission A was chaired
by J. Vanier, 1990-93, Commission C by P. Wittke, 1993-96 and Commission K
was chaired by M.A. Stuchly, 1991-93. The Vice-chair of Commission H is
currently H.G. James. The climax of this ten year period will be in
August, this year 2000, with the intense activity associated with the
XXVIth General Assembly, which will be held at the University of Toronto,
Toronto, Canada, under the organizing chairmanship of K. Balmain.
URSI Canadian Committee URSI Canadian Committee
Chairmen Secretaries
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D.W. McKinley 1951-57 J.C. Scott 1951-54
J.S. Marshal 1957-61 Ann Marshall 1955-58
J.T. Henderson 1961-65 D.W. McKinley 1958-61
R.S. Rettie 1965-68 P.M. Millman 1961-63
M.P. Bachynski 1968-71 J.H. Chapman 1966-68
R.E. Barrington 1971-74 J.L. Locke 1968-73
F.J. Osborne 1974-80 J.Y. Wong 1973-80
E.V. Jull 1980-86 L.H. Doherty 1980-86
P.H. Wittke 1986-93 R.F. Clark 1986-93
G.Y. Delisle 1993-99 R.H. Hayward 1993-96
Y.M. Antar 1999- * K.F. Tapping 1996-97
J.P. Vallée 1997-
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* NDLR 2009: Dr Antar's term ended in 2008, and followed by Dr Prato 2009-