A gallery of old photographs from the Physics Department

A Gallery of Old Photographs from the Physics Department of
The University of Western Ontario

Last updated 2002.01.14 - A year ago Archie McLarty provided me with new information about the 2nd and 3rd last photographs on this page, and I have finally got around to adding that information.

On this web page you will find some old photographs from the department's files, all of them dating from before 1960. They include former faculty and students, many of whom are unknown to me. I have included with them any identifications which I have been able to determine, ranging from complete certainty to educated guesses. As information comes in, I am continually updating this page, and am also adding new photographs from time to time, so you may want to look at it again every once in a while.

If you can add to the information about who is in these photographs, when they were taken, under what circumstances or for what occasion, etc., please let me know. Please also take a look at the history of the department which I have prepared.

Don Moorcroft, moorcrof@julian.uwo.ca

Index

November 1957 photograph
November 1957, Part 1
November 1957, Part 2
November 1957, Part 3
November 1957, Part 4
Radio Physics, Class of 1949
Radio Physics, Class of 1949, part 1
Radio Physics, Class of 1949, part 2

Radio Physics class of 1948
Physics graduating class in March 1946
A picture of R.L. Allen, but from what year?
An old radio laboratory, mid 1930s?
The radio station VE9BY (1931 or 32.
A photo of science demonstrators? - probably from 1934-35
An old group photo - is it even Physics?
And for your interest, a 1933 picnic

A photo from November 1957

. I know that the following photograph was taken in November 1957, but I don't know what the occasion was. Do you? For ease in viewing and identification, I have broken this picture up into four sections which follow below.
November 1957 photograph

November 1957, Part 1. 1-Bill Durnford, 2-John Blackwell, 3-Art Fulford, 4-Peter Fraser, 5-John MacDonald, 6-Bill Parkinson (student with Nicholls), 7-Alan Beck (PDF with Uffen).

November 1957, Part 2. 1-Harold Tull, 2-Elizabeth Laird, 3-Eric Brannen, 4-Charles Carmichael, 5-Heinrich Froelich (Brannen), 6-Garth Olde, 7-Ed Reeves (Nicholls), 8-David Robinson (Nicholls), 9- Pat Johnson (glassblower), 10-Margaret McNulty (secretary), 11-Gerry Hébert (Nicholls).

November 1957, Part 3. 1-Dr. Dearle, 2-Don Misener, 3-R.L. Allen, 4-Ram Agarwal, 5-Peter Manuel, 6-Nora Dwyer (secretary), 7-Meryl Edwards (Uffen), 8-Bill Wehlau, 9-Dennis McConnell, 10-Ed Thompson (3rd year lab technician), 11-Rama Murty, 12-Mike Watson (Nicholls), 13-David Longlois (instrument shop).

November 1957, Part 4. 1-Ralph Nicholls, 2-D. Richard Stevenson, 3-Bob Uffen, 4-Fred Zelonka, 5-Reginald Reynolds (Demonstrator), 6-Del Rumbold, 7-John Stockhausen (Blackwell), 8-Gord Graham (instrument maker), 9-Farouk Aziz Khan (Brannen?).

Radio Physics Class of 1949

This photo has Radio Physics, UWO Class of 1949 written below it in pencil. Once again, for ease of identification, I have broken it into two sections. Many of the identifications have come from consulting the 1949 Occidentalia.

Radio Physics, 1949: Part 1. 1-William H. (Bill) Barrie, 2-James H. Williams, 3-Norris McKay Hobbs, 4-Harold Tull, 5-John William Hunt, 6-?, 7-Herbert D. Griffiths, 8-Charles W. Jackson, 9-Robert Ronald Sly, 10-Lloyd Luke, 11-George Harrower, 12-Gordon R. Lang, 13-Charles E. Bartlett.

Radio Physics, 1949: Part 2. 1-David Andrew Aaronson, 2-Harold K. (Duke) Ellenton, 3-John Blackwell, 4-Robert Ray Smale, 5-Leon Robert (Bob) McNarry, 6-Walter M. Searle, 7-?, 8-Stanley S. Kostashuk, 9-Robert W. Cooke 10-Robert Williamson, 11-David Clarence Hogg, 12-Clifford L. Crozier.

Radio Physics, 1948

I believe that this is a picture of the first class to graduate in Radio Physics.

From front to back, left to right: front row: Benson A. (Ben) Wilson. Second row: Arthur Dodge, Innes K. MacKenzie, Ronald Edward (Ron) Davis; Third row: John H. Chapman, Edward H. Stock; Back - Jack Bittner.
These identifications have been determined by comparison with the 1948 Occidentalia and other photographs, in some cases confirmed by Peter Fraser and Parker Alford.

Physics graduating class in March 1946

Thanks to Dave Jackson, I now know that this picture was taken in March 1946, and was a graduation photo of the physics class of '46. Dave Jackson says that the back of his copy of this photo says "March '46, 4th Yr. Radio and Staff: Don Hay, Eric Vogan, Del Rumbolt, G. A. Woonton, Harold Tull." That is interesting, since officially students didn't start graduating in the Radio Physics program until 1948 and no students list themselves as being in the Radio Physics program in the Occidentalia until 1948. However, it appears that there was an informal radio physics program going ahead of that, growing out of the radar work during the war.

From left to right: Del Rumbold, David Jackson, Gar Woonton, Don Hay, Harold Tull, Eric Vogan.

A Picture of R.L. Allen

As with so many other pictures in the Department's collection, this one is completely unidentified. It is obviously R.L. Allen, but when was it taken? My guess is that is was some time in the 1940s, but if you have a better idea, please let me know.

An old radio laboratory, mid 1930s?

This undated and unidentified picture is most likely from the mid 1930s. The person at the back on the left is, I believe, Wilson Totten, who graduated in 1933, and was a demonstrator in Physics for the next two years (34-35 and 35-36).

I know that it isn't the amateur radio station, VE9BY, which was operated in the 1930's, because a picture of the radio station which dates from 1931 or 1932 shows much more sophisticated equipment than in this picture.

The experimental radio station VE9BY. I found this photograph in the 1932 edition of the school yearbook, Occidentalia. Back to An old radio laboratory, mid 1930s?.

A photo of science demonstrators? - probably from 1934-35

This photograph became slightly less confusing, after I realized that it had been printed back to front. The buttons and pockets on the jackets were all on the wrong side. On the basis of the tentative identifications below, it appears that this may have been a photo of some of the science demonstrators in 1934-35, together with Bill Durnford. The basis for that statement is that the fairly firm identifications (Totten, De Luca) were listed as demonstrators in various departments in the 35-36 calendar. Personnel listings in the calendar are often one year late, making this most likely a 34-35 photo. In the following list I have reduced by one the years of demonstrating, making them consistent with the graduating years.

Left to right: (1) Bill Durnford; (2) ?; (3) ? (I thought this was Duncan McLarty - Honour Botany, 1934, and Demonstrator in Botany, 34-35 - but his son Archie McLarty tells me that it must be someone else); (4) Leo John Wilson Totten (Math. and Physics, 1933, and Demonstrator, 33-34, 34-35); (5) this looks most like Paul Elson (Honour Zoology, 1934, and Demonstrator in Zoology, 34-35, 35-36; another possibility is Gerald Gill, M&P, 1934, and D. in Physics, 34-35, 35-36), (6) Horace Anthony De Luca (Honour Chemistry, 1933, and Demonstrator in Chemistry, 33-34 & 34-35); (7) possibly John W. Symons (Honours Chemistry 1934, and D in Chem., 34-35).

Another old photo. It appears that this photo has nothing directly to do with the Physics Department. Archie McLarty has identified the woman in the front row, 6th from the left, as Dr. Sheilah McLachlin, so perhaps it was some sort of medical conference or special course. Whatever it is, we have two prints of it. If you recognize anyone, please let me know!

A 1933 picnic at the Dearle's cottage, Rondeau. This old photograph shows the 'original' department when everyone was still young.

Front (left to right): Don MacVicar and Jimmy Speight (both B.A. in Mathematics and Physics, 1932), Pauline Faust (B.A. in Secretarial Science, 1932, and departmental secretary from 1932 to 1954), Dr. Dearle, R.L. Allen, Gar Woonton, and Miss Foster.
Rear: Bill Durnford, Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Dearle