The University of Western Ontario was officially established on March 7, 1878,
but it was not until 1915 that the Physics Department was established
with the appointment of Dr.E.F. Barker as Professor of Physics, who gave
physics courses for pre-medical students. A physics program was organized
soon thereafter and the first physics students were registered in 1919.
In that year Dr. Barker resigned and his place was taken by Dr. R.C. Dearle
who directed the Department for the next 30 years. Under his direction
the first honors program was organized and a graduate program was started.
It would be fair to say that Dr. Dearle laid the foundation on which the
present department is built. Construction on the present campus started in 1922, and the new arts
building (now University College) and science building (now the Physics
and Astronomy Building) opened for the first time for the 1924 summer
session. By 1939 there were 5 faculty members in the department,
and by 1949 there were 14. In the years following World War II the
University expanded greatly, and with it the Physics Department. Astronomy at the university started with an Astronomy Group in the Department
of Pure and Applied Mathematics, under the direction of Dr. Kingston.
One of the first milestones for astronomy at UWO was the construction
of the Cronyn Observatory, which was opened to the public in 1941.
By 1965 there were several astronomers in the Department of Pure and Applied
Mathematics, and the university decided to form a separate department of astronomy. The new Astronomy Department started in 1966 under
the leadership of W. H. Wehlau with a faculty of 4, which increased to 6 by 1970.A Brief History
