Erich Wolfgang Vogt, (November 12, 1929 - February 19, 2014) was a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

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 ...

Biography

Born into a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

family in Steinbach, Manitoba, Vogt received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in 1951 and a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in 1952 from the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

. He received a Ph.D. from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1955 under the direction of

Eugene Wigner Eugene Paul Wigner (, ; November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who also contributed to mathematical physics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his contributions to the theory of th ...

. In 1965, he started teaching at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. From 1975 to 1981, he was the Vice President (Faculty & Student Affairs). He retired in 1994, although he came back in 2000 to teach several 100 level physics courses. He is best known as one of the founders of

TRIUMF Triumf may refer to: * TRIUMF, Canada's national particle accelerator centre * 14959 TRIUMF, a minor planet * S-400 Triumf, a Russian anti-aircraft weapon system developed in the 1990s * Triumf Riza (1979–2007), Kosovo police officer and member o ...

, Canada's national laboratory of nuclear and particle physics, which utilizes a

particle accelerator A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel electric charge, charged particles to very high speeds and energies to contain them in well-defined particle beam, beams. Small accelerators are used for fundamental ...

, located on the University of British Columbia. He was the director from 1981 to 1994. Vogt co-authored and edited 24 volumes of ''Advances of Nuclear Physics'' with John W. Neagle. In 1976, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

for his "role in the creation the new multi-million dollar cyclotron at the University of British Columbia, which is a major achievement in Physics in Canada". In 2006, he was awarded the Order of British Columbia. In 1970, he was made a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Manitoba, Queen's University,

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchewan as a j ...

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

, and

. On December 4, 2009, he gave his final lecture at the UBC Hennings Building, room 201, to his class of Physics 107 students. This lecture was also attended by faculty members as well as former students. He continued to work at TRIUMF.

Death

Vogt died on February 19, 2014 at Vancouver General Hospital.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vogt, Erich 1929 births 2014 deaths Canadian physicists Canadian university and college vice-presidents Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Officers of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of British Columbia Princeton University alumni University of Manitoba alumni Canadian Mennonites Mennonite writers People from Steinbach, Manitoba Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Presidents of the Canadian Association of Physicists