John Herbert Chapman (August 28, 1921 – September 28, 1979) 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 ...

space researcher. He started his career with his work on

radio propagation Radio propagation is the behavior of radio waves as they travel, or are wave propagation, propagated, from one point to another in vacuum, or into various parts of the atmosphere. As a form of electromagnetic radiation, like light waves, radio w ...

and the

ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays ...

. Chapman grew up in

London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

, the son of Lt. Col. Lloyd Chapman and Kathleen Chapman. He received his BSc (Honors) from The

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

in 1948, and later received a Master of Science degree and a Ph.D. in physics at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec. After his studies at university, Chapman got his first position in the government with the

Defence Research Board Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC; , ''RDDC'') is the science and technology organization of the Department of National Defence (DND), whose purpose is to provide the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), other government departments, and public ...

(DRB). He was then promoted to the position of section leader of the ionospheric propagation unit at the Defense Research Telecommunications Establishmentbr>
which is now the Communications Research Centr

CRC) in 1951 at Shirley's Bay, a Canadian military and civilian telecommunication research campus. He was also a superintendent. While at Shirley's Bay, Chapman worked on a number of projects. One of the projects he directed was the ground-breaking Canadian satellite called

Alouette Alouette or alouettes may refer to: Music and literature * Alouette (song), "Alouette" (song), a French-language children's song * Alouette, a List of The King of Braves GaoGaiGar protagonists#Alouette, character in ''The King of Braves GaoGaiGar' ...

. The DRTE having no experience developing

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

s had to work quite hard to think of and counter all the difficulties they would face in the harsh environment of space. Because of his work on Alouette he was promoted to chairman of a government study group to study the upper atmosphere and space programs in Canada. While chairman, Chapman compiled his findings into "The Chapman Report" in which he argued that Canada needed to redirect its space program in order to continue its ongoing research more effectively and efficiently. "The Chapman Report" remains an important document in helping the

Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; ) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The President of the Canadian Space Agency, president is Lisa Campbell (civil servant), Lisa Campbell, who took ...

choose what they should work on when it comes to

space program A space program is an organized effort by a government or a company with a goal related to outer space. Lists of space programs include: * List of government space agencies * List of private spaceflight companies * List of human spaceflight prog ...

s. Chapman was given awards for his work in aerospace technology. The first was given by 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 ...

in 1966; he also received an Engineering medal from the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario and the Dillinger Gold Medal from the International Union of Radio Scientists the same year. In 1967 Chapman was awarded The Chree Medal and Prize and the McCurdy award from the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institution. Chapman was a member of the

. He was also part of the National Research Council (NRC) Associate committee on Space Research, a council of the top Canadian space scientists. He also served on the

International Union of Radio Science The International Union of Radio Science (abbreviated ''URSI'', after its French name, ) is one of 26 international scientific unions affiliated to the International Council for Science (ICSU). History and objectives URSI was officially cr ...

and the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, Atmospheric science, atmospheric, Oceanography, ocean, Hydrology, hydrologic, Astronomy, space, and Planetary science, planetary scientists and enthusiasts that ...

. Chapman died in Vancouver, BC in 1979. After his death, the

was formed to organize and give Canada its own space agency to create a central place to meet and work on Canadian space projects. With this new organization, Canada has been able to construct and launch new projects into orbit. One of the most important Canadian projects is

Canadarm Canadarm or Canadarm1 (officially Shuttle Remote Manipulator System or SRMS, also SSRMS) is a series of robotic arms that were used on the Space Shuttle orbiters to deploy, manoeuvre, and capture payloads. After the Space Shuttle ''Columbia' ...

, which has become used frequently on the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(or ISS for short). When the headquarters building of the

was completed in 1992, it was named the John H. Chapman Space Centre, in his honour. Asteroid '' (14163) JohnChapman'' is named after Chapman.

References

External links

Digital Collections government website - About John Herbert Chapman

Science.ca Profile: John Herbert Chapman

Article based on interviews with scientists who worked for John H. Chapman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, John Herbert 1921 births 1979 deaths Canadian physicists Chapman, Jo People from London, Ontario