Gordon Merritt Shrum (January 14, 1896 – June 20, 1985) was a Canadian scientist, teacher, administrator, and the first Chancellor of

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

Early life

Shrum was born in

Smithville, Ontario Smithville is a community in the township of West Lincoln, Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada. The former police village is located on Highway 20 between Hamilton and Niagara Falls. Smithville is the largest population centre and governing centr ...

, the son of Emma Jane (née Merritt) and William Burton Shrum. His education at Victoria College at the

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

, 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 Charles Vincent Massey (February 20, 1887December 30, 1967) was a Canadian lawyer and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 18th since Confederation. Massey was the first governor general of Canada who was born in Canada afte ...

Career

Military

On April 1, 1916, he enlisted in the army. He was a gunner and fought at the

Battle of Vimy Ridge The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the Battle of Arras, in the Pas-de-Calais department of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in the First Army, against three divisions of ...

. He received the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...

during the war.

Academia

After the war, he continued his education and received a Bachelor of Arts in 1919, a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

in 1921. As a doctoral student in February 1923 he was the first to replicate

Kamerlingh Onnes Kamerlingh Onnes is a compound surname of Dutch origin. People with the name include: * Harm Kamerlingh Onnes (1893–1985), Dutch portrait painter and ceramist * Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853–1926), Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate ** Kamerlin ...

'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 An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of b ...

as due to oxygen. Gordon Shrum

In 1925, he joined the faculty at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, 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 a ...

(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. However, he was forced to retire at the age of 65 due to their rules. In 1958, he was chairman of a royal commission investigating the BC Power Commission. He was also named a member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

. After retiring from UBC, he was appointed head of BC Electric by Premier

W.A.C. Bennett William Andrew Cecil Bennett (September 6, 1900 – February 23, 1979) was a Canadian politician. He was the 25th premier of British Columbia from 1952 to 1972. With just over 20 years in office, Bennett was and remains the longest-serving prem ...

and was involved with the

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River ...

hydro project. This project comprised the construction of the

W.A.C. Bennett Dam The W. A. C. Bennett Dam is a large hydroelectric dam on the Peace River in northern British Columbia, Canada. At high, it is one of the world's highest earth fill dams. Construction of the dam began in 1961 and culminated in 1968. At the dam ...

, which impounds

Williston Lake Williston Lake is a reservoir created by the W. A. C. Bennett Dam and is located in the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Geography The lake fills the basin of the upper Peace River, backing into the Rocky Mountain Trench which is ...

Reservoir, and the construction of a 2730 MW powerhouse (at that time the largest in the world) named after him: the G.M. Shrum Generating Station. In 1969, he was the recipient of Electrical Man of the Year. He stayed at

BC Hydro The British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, operating as BC Hydro, is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia. It is the main electricity distributor, serving more than 4 million customers in most areas, with the exc ...

until 1972. During this time, Shrum was also involved in establishing

and served as its first chancellor from 1963 to 1968. During this time, he was appointed 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 c ...

. A few years later, in 1975, he was appointed Director of the Vancouver Museum and Planetarium Association. In 1986, he wrote his autobiography with Peter Stursberg, called ''Gordon Shrum: An Autobiography''. Shrum died in Vancouver, British Columbia, just six months before his 90th birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shrum, Gordon 1896 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Canadian civil servants Canadian physicists Canadian university and college chancellors Canadian university and college faculty deans Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada University of Toronto alumni Officers of the Order of Canada Canadian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Canadian recipients of the Military Medal Presidents of the Canadian Association of Physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society