Celebrating a
Career in Radio Science
On
January 28, 1999 Deputy Minister Kevin Lynch presented an award to a remarkable
individual for an astonishing 42 years of service. Since 1956, CRC’s Jack Belrose
has served his country with devotion and distinction in the field of radio
science.
Jack received his PhD in the late 1950s from the University of Cambridge
in England. As a student he joined the Radio Group at the university’s
Cavendish Laboratories, specializing in VLF/LF propagation –– the
transmission of low and very low-frequency signals. As part of his thesis
studies, Jack was lucky to chart the first-ever solar proton event to be
observed scientifically. After his graduation, Jack came to the Defence
Research Board and very quickly became one of the leaders in the Radio
Physics Lab in Canada. He devoted himself to the field of ionospheric
studies and became a world-renowned expert.
In his more than forty years in the radio sciences, Jack has been
involved with countless research projects and has had his findings published
widely. In the early 60's, he was closely involved in the Defence Research
Telecommunications Establishment’s development of the Alouette 1 satellite,
contributing his knowledge on radio transmissions to the design of the
transmission antenna. He helped explore the problems involving high voltage
power transmission lines, and in the late 70's developed the Inuit trail
radio system, giving hunters a communications link to their northern
communities when out on the land.
Outside of work, Jack’s other great enthusiasm is amateur radio. He has
been a licenced ham radio operator since 1947 and is the principal operator
behind VE3DRC (now VY9DRC) since its establishment at Shirley’s Bay,
Ontario, in 1956. The amateur radio club at CRC often brought members into
the woods behind the campus where Jack was always the first to volunteer for
the high-wire act. Nimble as an acrobat, Jack was known to climb a 250 foot
radio tower and to clamber to the top of the highest tree to set up radio
wires.
Jack’s love for early Canadian radio history allowed him to raise
awareness for Reginald Aubrey Fessenden’s experiments and achievements,
including the first successful two-way transatlantic radio telegraphy
transmission. Among other things, Jack created the Industry Canada Fessenden
Postgraduate scholarships to commemorate this radio pioneer and encourage
young engineers to continue their radio science studies.
Jack has successfully evolved into the Information Society, sporting as
many as three computers in his office at any given time and exploiting their
computational capabilities to the maximum. He also put his article on
Fessenden’s work on the Internet in the very early days of the World Wide
Web.
Forty-two years of service spans an era of enormous change in the world
of scientific research. It is a remarkable achievement that Jack was able to
continue his research so intensely while providing a leadership management
role at DRTE and CRC for almost the entire period of his service, retiring
as Director of Radio Sciences only a year ago. He is a tireless advocate of
radio science both at CRC and throughout the international community.