Sylvia Olga Fedoruk ( e-doruk Ukrainian: Федорук) (May 5, 1927 – September 26, 2012) 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, medical physicist, curler and the 17th

lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan The lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan () is the representative in Saskatchewan of the monarch, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions of Canada. The lieutenant governor of Sas ...

, from 1988 to 1994.

Life

Born in Canora, Saskatchewan to Ukrainian immigrants Annie Romaniuk and Theodore Fedoruk, Fedoruk attended a

one room schoolhouse One-room schoolhouses, or One-room schools, have been commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, and Spa ...

Wroxton Wroxton is a village and civil parish in the north of Oxfordshire, England, about west of Banbury. The 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census recorded the parish's population as 546. Wroxton Abbey Wroxton Abbey is a Jacobean architecture, J ...

, north east of

Yorkton Yorkton is a city located in south-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is about north-west of Winnipeg and south-east of Saskatoon and is the sixth largest city in the province. Yorkton was founded in 1882 and incorporated as a city in 1928. ...

. Her father was her teacher. During World War II, her family relocated to Ontario where her parents took war factory work. In 1946, Fedoruk completed her studies at Walkerville Collegiate in Windsor Ontario, at the top of her class and was awarded the Ernest J. Creed Memorial Medal and an entrance

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

to attend

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. However, the family chose to return to Saskatchewan where Sylvia entered the University of Saskatchewan at Saskatoon in the fall of 1946. She received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in physics, at the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

, in 1949 and was awarded the Governor General's Gold Medal. Fedoruk then went on to complete her M.A. in physics in 1951. Fedoruk was recruited by Dr. Harold E. Johns to be the radiation physicist at Saskatoon Cancer Clinic. She became the chief medical physicist at the

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

Cancer Clinic and director of physics services at the Saskatchewan Cancer Clinic. She was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

and associate member in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

at the University of Saskatchewan. She was involved in the development of the world's first

cobalt-60 Cobalt-60 (Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2714 years. It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisotop ...

unit and one of the first

nuclear medicine Nuclear medicine (nuclear radiology, nucleology), is a medical specialty involving the application of radioactivity, radioactive substances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Nuclear imaging is, in a sense, ''radiology done inside out'', ...

scanning machines. The cobalt-60 beam therapy unit, or the "cobalt bomb" as it was known, was the first of its kind to successfully use targeted radiation to treat cancer in a patient. The machine's collimated beam of radiation could be adjusted to the size of the tumor to irradiate the growth. Fedoruk's masters work on depth-dose measurements for radiation treatment were essential in the success of the beam therapy unit. In 1961, she played the third for Joyce McKee for the Saskatchewan

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

team, the winners in the very first Diamond 'D' Championships.The next year team Saskatchewan was a runner-up in the 1962 Diamond D Championship with Fedoruk again playing as third. From 1971 to 1972 she was president of the Canadian Ladies

Curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

Association. In 1986, she was inducted into the

Canadian Curling Hall of Fame The Canadian Curling Hall of Fame was established with its first inductees in 1973. It is operated by Curling Canada, the governing body for curling in Canada, in Orleans, Ontario. The Hall of Fame selection committee meets annually to choose indu ...

, as a builder, and was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. From 1986 to 1989 she was chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan. She was the first woman to fill this position at the University of Saskatchewan and was the first woman member of the Atomic Energy Control Board of Canada. Then in 1987, she 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 ...

. From 1988 to 1994, she was

Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan The lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan () is the representative in Saskatchewan of the monarch, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions of Canada. The lieutenant governor of Sas ...

. In the 1990s, the City of

named a new road, Fedoruk Drive in her honour. The roadway runs from Central Avenue to McOrmond Drive, north of the communities of Silverspring and Evergreen and south of the community of Aspen Ridge and the Northeast Swale. Fedoruk Drive serves as a minor arterial roadway in the northeast sector of the city. On October 3, 2012 the name of the Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation (CCNI) was changed to the Sylvia Fedoruk Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation in honor of the pioneering work she did in the treatment of cancer using cobalt-60 radiation therapy in the 1950s. In 2009, she was inducted into the

Canadian Medical Hall of Fame __NOTOC__ The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame is a Canadian charitable organization, founded in 1994, that honours Canadians who have contributed to the understanding of disease and improving the health of people. It has an exhibit hall in London, ...

Arms

References

External links

Sylvia Olga Fedoruk - Canadian Women in Government
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fedoruk, Sylvia 1927 births 2012 deaths 20th-century Canadian physicists Canadian women's curling champions Chancellors of the University of Saskatchewan Lieutenant governors of Saskatchewan Members of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit Officers of the Order of Canada Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Canadian women curlers Curlers from Saskatoon Canadian women physicists People from Canora, Saskatchewan Women in Saskatchewan politics Canadian women viceroys Medical physicists 20th-century Canadian women scientists 20th-century Canadian sportswomen

Life

Arms

See also

References

Further reading

External links