The Elizabeth Laird Memorial Lectures
This lecture series was initiated in 1970 to honour Professor Elizabeth Rebecca Laird—a long-time associate, colleague, and friend of the Physics Department at The University of Western Ontario. It was the first lecture series in the Faculty of Science at Western to carry the name of an individual, which is particularly fitting since she accomplished so many “firsts” in her long and distinguished career.
These lectures are designed to bring to the general public some of the excitement that leading physicists from all over the world have as they understand fundamentals and apply their special talents to solving many of today's scientific and technological problems.
Dr. Elizabeth Rebecca Laird was born in Owen Sound, Ontario on December 6th, 1874. Laird wanted to start her graduate work immediately after receiving her B.A. in 1896 from the University of Toronto. Her scholarship applications were rejected on the basis of gender, despite the fact that she had been first in her class for three years.
From 1901 to 1940, as Professor and Head of the Mount Holyoke physics department, Laird trained many women who became active physicists and set an example for the participation of women in research.
In World War II, Laird came out of retirement to work at The University of Western Ontario on the development of radar. She made substantial contributions and was invited to remain at the University. She was a remarkable person.
Speakers in the Elizabeth Laird Memorial Lecture Series:
| Academic Year |
Speaker/Topic
|
|---|---|
| 2020-21 |
Dr. CATHERINE BEAUCHEMIN
Ryerson University
Department of Physics
|
| 2019-20 | Dr. MELANIE CAMPBELL University of Waterloo Department of Physics and Astronomy "The Eye as a Window on the Brain" |
| 2018-19 | Dame Professor JOCELYN BELL BURNELL Mansfield Fellow and Professorial Fellow in Physics University of Oxford Department of Physics "Bursts, bangs and things that go bump in the night" |
| 2017-18 | Dr. C. MEGAN URRY Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy Director – Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics Yale University "Black Holes, Galaxies, and the Evolution of the Universe" |
| 2015-16 | Dr. ADA YONATH (Cancelled) Winner - 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel "The Origin of Life" |
| 2014-15 | Dr. OLGA POPOVA Institute for Dynamics of Geospheres Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow "The Chelyabinsk Meteoroid Entry and Airburst Damage" |
| 2013-14 | Dr. KLAUS von KLITZING Winner - 1985 Nobel Prize in Physics Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Sciences, Stuttgart, Germany "The Quantum Hall Effect: Physics and Application" |
| 2012-13 | Dr. EDWARD "ROCKY" W. KOLB Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics The University of Chicago "Mysteries of the Dark Universe" |
| 2011-12 | Dr. LEONARD C. FELDMAN Director, Institute for Advanced Materials, Devices and Nanotechnology and V-P, Physical Science and Engineering Partnerships Rutgers University "The Materials Revolution" |
| 2010-11 | Dr. JAYANT NARLIKAR Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics Pune, India "Searches for Micro-organisms in the Earth's Atmosphere" |
| 2006-07 | Dr. ANNE M. THOMPSON Department of Meteorology Penn State University Pennsylvania "OZONE: the Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde of the Atmosphere" |
| 2005-06 | Dr. VIOLA VOGEL Laboratory of Biologically Oriented Materials Department of Materials at ETH Zürich, Switzerland "Biological Nanotricks: Shuttling and Switching at the Nanoscale" |
| 2004-05 | Dr. FOTINI MARKOPOULOU-KALAMARA Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics Waterloo ON "Is Space Real?" |
| 2003-04 | Dr. HEIDI HAMMEL Space Science Institute Boulder CO "The Future of Planetary Exploration" |
| 2001-02 | Dr. VIRGINIA TRIMBLE University of California, Irvine "Cosmology: Man's Place in the Universe" |
| 2000-01 | Dr. PAUL C. W. CHU University of Houston "The Odyssey: The Path of Zero Resistance" |
| 1998-99 | Dr. WENDY FREEDMAN Carnegie Observatories Pasadena CA "The Age and Size of the Universe" |
| 1997-98 | Dr. CATHERINE A. PILACHOWSKI National Optical Astronomy Observatories Tucson, AZ "Telescopes of the 21st Century" |
| 1996-97 | Dr. URSULA M. FRANKLIN University of Toronto "Questions not Asked, Answers not Desired" |
| 1992-93 | Dr. CLAUDINE SIMSON Director of Technology Northern Telecom Nepean, ON |
| 1991-92 | Dr. ALEXANDER DALGARNO Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics "Molecules Beyond the Solar System" |
| 1990-91 | Dr. GEORGE EWAN Queen's University "The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory - Studying the Universe from 2 km Underground" |
| 1989-90 | Dr. SUSAN SOLOMON National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Aeronomy Laboratory, Boulder CO "Ozone Depletion at the Ends of the Earth" |
| 1988-89 | Dr. EMIL WOLF Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Institute of Optics University of Rochester "The Redshift Controversy" |
| 1987-88 | Dr. RALPH NICHOLLS Distinguished Research Professor of Physics and Director, Centre for Research in Experimental Space Science York University "Canada in Space" |
| 1986-87 | Dr. ERICH W. VOGT TRIUMF, Vancouver "The New Physics of Matter - toward Supergravity with Supercolliders" |
| 1985-86 | Dr. BORIS P. STOICHEFF University of Toronto "Light Scattering, Spontaneous and Stimulated" |
| 1983-84 | Dr. M. E. FISHER Cornell University "Universality and Singularity: Phase Transitions and our Understanding of the Physical World" |
| 1977-78 | Dr. DAVID J. ROSE Nuclear Engineering, M.I.T. "Energy - more than Technology" |
| 1976-77 | Dr. A. G. W. CAMERON Nuclear Engineering, M.I.T. "Energy - more than Technology" |
| 1975-76 | Dr. JOHN C. POLYANI Co-Winner - 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry University of Toronto "The Nuclear Arms Race" |
| 1974-75 | Dr. J. D. JACKSON University of California, Berkeley "Recent Discoveries in Particle Physics - The Beginnings of a New Synthesis?" |
| 1973-74 | Dr. W. B. LEWIS Queen's University "Abundant Energy at Low Cost and Low Risk from Nuclear Fission" |
| 1973-74 | Dr. THOMAS GOLD Cornell University Director, Center for Radiophysics and Space Research "Masses and Sizes of Objects in the Universe" |
| 1972-73 | Dr. S. A. BOWHILL International Union of Radio Science (URSI) "Development of Physical Sciences - Unsolved Problems of the Earth's Environment" |
| 1971-72 | Dr. ELLIOTT W. MONTROLL Director, Institute for Fundamental Studies University of Rochester "Quantitative Aspects of Social Phenomena" |
| 1970-71 | Dr. LOTHAR W. NORDHEIN Duke University "Energy for Man: Past and Future" |
| 1970-71 | Dr. GERHARD HERZBERG Winner - 1971 Nobel Prize in Chemistry National Research Council of Canada "The Interstellar Medium" |
| 1970-71 | Sir HARRIE MASSEY Head, Physics Department University College London "The Development of Physical Science" |
