Gordon Shrum
| Gordon Shrum | |
|---|---|
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| Chancellor of Simon Fraser University | |
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In office 1963–1968 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Gordon Merritt Shrum January 14, 1896 Smithville, Ontario |
| Died | June 20, 1985 (aged 89) Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Alma mater | Victoria College |
Gordon Merritt Shrum OC OBE MM (January 14, 1896 – June 20, 1985) was a Canadian scientist, teacher, administrator, and the first Chancellor of Simon Fraser University.
Shrum was born in Smithville, Ontario, the son of Emma Jane (née Merritt) and William Burton Shrum. His education at Victoria College at the University of Toronto, where he started in 1913, was interrupted by World War I. A friend of Lester (Mike) Pearson, he was in his Canadian Officers Training Corps (C.O.T.C.) unit starting in 1914. Their company commander was Vincent Massey.
On April 1, 1916, he enlisted in the army. He was a gunner and fought at the Battle of Vimy Ridge. He received the Military Medal during the war. After the war, he continued his education and received a Bachelor of Arts in 1919, a Master of Arts in 1921. As a doctoral student in February 1923 he was the first to replicate Kamerlingh Onnes's 1908 Nobel Prize–winning feat of liquefying helium. Later that year he was awarded his Doctorate in physics for studies of the hydrogen spectrum. As a post-doctoral fellow he was the first to identify the prominent green line in the Aurora Borealis as due to oxygen.
In 1925, he joined the faculty at the University of British Columbia (UBC) where he taught physics. In 1935 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. From 1938 to 1961, he was the head of the Physics Department. Circa 1945-1950, he was also Director of Emergency Housing, allocating former WWII Army huts for faculty and staff housing on campus in Acadia Camp and Fort Camp. From 1957 to 1961, he was the Dean of Graduate Studies and served on the Senate of the University. He retired at the compulsory age of 65.
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