Bertram Neville Brockhouse, (July 15, 1918 – October 13, 2003) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

. He was awarded the

Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...

(1994, shared with Clifford Shull) "for pioneering contributions to the development of

neutron scattering Neutron scattering, the irregular dispersal of free neutrons by matter, can refer to either the naturally occurring physical process itself or to the man-made experimental techniques that use the natural process for investigating materials. Th ...

techniques for studies of condensed matter", in particular "for the development of neutron spectroscopy".Brockhouse biographical details from nobelprize.org
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Education and early life

Brockhouse was born in Lethbridge,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, and was a graduate of the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...

( BA, 1947) and the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

( MA, 1948;

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

, 1950).

Career and research

From 1950 to 1962, Brockhouse carried out research at

Atomic Energy of Canada Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the 1950s, and in October 2011 licensed thi ...

's Chalk River Nuclear Laboratory. Here he was joined by

P. K. Iyengar Padmanabhan Krishnagopala Iyengar (29 June 1931 – 21 December 2011; best known as P. K. Iyengar), was an Indian nuclear physicist who is widely known for his central role in the development of the nuclear program of India. Iyengar previousl ...

, who is treated as the father of India's nuclear program. In 1962, he became professor at

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

in Canada, where he remained until his retirement in 1984. Brockhouse died on October 13, 2003 from

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a Canada 2016 Census, population of 569,353, and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington, ...

at age of 85.

Awards and honours

Brockhouse was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1965. In 1982, Brockhouse was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

and was promoted to Companion in 1995. Brockhouse shared the 1994

with American Clifford Shull of MIT for developing

techniques for studying condensed matter. In October 2005, as part of the 75th anniversary of McMaster University's establishment in

, a street on the University campus (University Avenue) was renamed to Brockhouse Way in honour of Brockhouse. The town of

Deep River, Ontario Deep River is a town in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. Located along the Ottawa River, it lies about north-west of Ottawa on the Trans-Canada Highway. Deep River is opposite the Laurentian Mountains and the Province of Quebec. The name ''Deep ...

has also named a street in his honour. The Nobel Prize that Bertram Brockhouse won (shared with Clifford Shull) in 1994 was awarded after the longest ever waiting time (counting from the time when the award-winning research had been carried out). In 1999 the Division of Condensed Matter and Materials Physics (DCMMP) and the

Canadian Association of Physicists Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP), or in French Association canadienne des physiciens et physiciennes (ACP) is a Canadian professional society that focuses on creating awareness among Canadians and Canadian legislators of physics issues, spo ...

(CAP) created a medal in honour of Brockhouse. The medal is called the Brockhouse Medal and is awarded to recognize and encourage outstanding experimental or theoretical contributions to condensed matter and materials physics. This medal is awarded annually on the basis of outstanding experimental or theoretical contributions to condensed matter physics. An eligible candidate must have performed their research primarily with a Canadian Institution.

References

External links

Bertram Brockhouse, the Triple-axis Spectrometer, and Neutron Spectroscopy
from the

Office of Scientific and Technical Information The Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) is a component of the Office of Science within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The '' Energy Policy Act'' PL 109–58, Section 982, called out the responsibility of OSTI: "The Secr ...

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United Stat ...

* including the Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1994 ''Slow Neutron Spectroscopy and the Grand Atlas of the Physical World'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Brockhouse, Bertram 1918 births 2003 deaths Scientists from Lethbridge Spectroscopists Canadian nuclear physicists University of Toronto alumni University of British Columbia Faculty of Science alumni McMaster University faculty Nobel laureates in Physics Canadian Nobel laureates Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Fellows of the American Physical Society Companions of the Order of Canada Canadian Fellows of the Royal Society Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize winners 20th-century Canadian scientists Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences