XYLENE POWER LTD.

SFU PHYSICS DEPARTMENT 50 YEAR REUNION

By Charles Rhodes, P.Eng., Ph.D.

BACKGROUND:
When SFU opened in September 1965 the physics department had 1st year, 2nd year and graduate students. At that time in the 1st year physics class there were approximately 700 students enrolled in two lecture hall classes of about 350 students each. One class was taught by the then Physics Department head Rudi Haering. The other class was taught by Klaus Rieckhoff.

The first year physics lectures were modelled on a lecture series originally offered by nobel lauriate Richard Feynman.

Classes were taught on the trimester system, although not every subject was offered every semester. The scheduling issues in combination with academic exhaustion and financial pressures led most students to take at least one semester off during their undergraduate years. Another consequence of the trimester system was that a student who completed his/her degree requirements at Christmas time did not have the degree conferred until the following June, by which time he/she was often working or taking post graduate studies in a far away city.

Math was a requirement for physics. Physics was a requirement for chemistry. Chemistry was a requirement for biology. In 1965 SFU had no Faculty of Applied Science. Hence some of the physics students were really seeking careers in chemistry, biology or high technology engineering.

The standards were high. Approximately 70% of students enrolled in 1st year physics failed at Christmas. Another 30% of the remainder failed at Easter, so the number of students successfully completing 1st year was about 20% of the original enrolment.

During the years 1965 to 1968 there was considerable interest in application of lasers to communications. This matter was studied at length within the SFU physics club, which was a route by which many physics department students came to know each other socially. Wideband laser communications acttually came into widespread use a decade later after the development of low loss single mode fibre optic cable.
 

REUNION ORGANIZATION:
In the early spring of 2015 the SFU Alumni Association set in motion a celebration of the SFU 50 year anniversary. The SFU Alumni Association chose September 9, 2015 as its main celebration date. Many SFU alumni now living in far away places adjusted their personal schedules and travel plans to meet the September 9, 2015 celebration date.

In August 2015 the current SFU physics department indicated that it would have a departmental celebration on September 17, 2015. Charles Rhodes, a SFU charter student and a SFU honors physics graduate now resident in Ontario immediately raised the issue of date inconsistency between the SFU departmental celebration and the alumni association organized celebration. The 8 day separation was incompatible with most remote alumni's vacation and travel plans, for which reservations had already been booked. The current physics department was inflexible with respect to the September 17, 2015 date.

The solution was simple. Persons who were associated with the SFU physics department in its early years (1965-1968) would have their own 50 year physics department reunion. Since SFU facilities were already heavily booked during the week of September 9, 2015 it was decided to hold the 50 year physics department reunion at an off campus location. After considering various possibilities the home of Leigh and Evelyn Palmer beside Deer Lake in Burnaby, B.C. was chosen and the date and time were set as September 10, 2015 fom 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM. In this respect Leigh and Evelyn Palmer generously provided, free of charge, the use of their home, front porch, large garden deck and chairs and tables from a neighbouring facility.

It was decided to charge $20 per person attending to defray the cost of catered food and incidental expenses. As it turned out cash receipts exceeded actual expenses by $210, so the excess revenue was donated to the Evelyn and Leigh Palmer Endowment Scholarship Fund.

During the last 2 weeks of August 2015 Charles Rhodes attempted to assemble an email and telephone number list of surviving persons who he and others remembered as being associated with the SFU Physics Department during the period 1965 - 1968. This list was not limited to physics students and faculty. The list included chemistry students who shared 2nd year classes with physics students, math and chemistry department faculty who taught physics students and physics department technicians and clerical personnel. In this matter he relied on his own and others dim recollection of peoples names and on Canada 411 to find them. Today people with unususal surnames are relatively easy to find via internet searches, but persons with common surnames like Bennett or MacDonald are difficult to locate because there are thousands of them in North America. There was an additional complication that some Christian names listed on SFU Alumni records did not match the Christian names used while that person was at SFU. There were others for whom, try as we might, we simply could not remember their names. Nevertheless, with our best efforts a list was prepared and is set out on this web page. Additions to this list are welcome.
 

DATA POSTING:
Due to work pressures related to urgent climate change and fast neutron reactor issues almost four months elapsed between the September 10, 2015 reunion and posting reunion related data on this website. The data collection was a bit chaotic, so it is possible that some mistakes have occurred. Please check the posted data and photographs and advise me of any errors. You can contact me at CSLRhodes@gmail.com or at 905 473-1704. If you possess further information or photographs that might be relevant to this web page, please forward them to me.
Regards,
Charles Rhodes
December 29, 2015

 

SFU PHYSICS DEPARTMENT REUNION September 10, 2015 VERSION 10 INFORMATION:

NAME	CONTACT INFORMATION	WILL ATTEND?	PHOTO
Tony Arrott	arrott@sfu.ca	yes	Photo, Photo, Photo, Photo Portrait
David C. Bailey	dbailey@physics.utoronto.ca	no response
Janice Banks	via Leigh Palmer	?
Stanley Banister	Squamish? - need contact information
Peter Alexander Barnes	USA - need contact information
Inder Paul Batra	need contact information Supervisor R.R. Haering
Chris Baudat	nusmata@me.com	no response	Photo
Rosario Beaudet	Hydro Quebec - need contact information
Mike Billany	smiggets@shaw.ca
John Betts	jebetts@shaw.ca (student of Rieckoff)	no
D Bailey	dbailey@physics.utoronto.ca	no response
Lorna Bennett	need contact information
Wellington P. Chen	need contact information
Chen	(student of Colbow) – Vancouver area - need contact information
Chin	need contact information
Siva Chinniah	604 939-8914	maybe
Patrick Washington Chung	need contact information
John Cochran	deceased 2014
T Cockrell	need contact information
Konrad Colbow	colbow@sfu.ca 604 926 2730	yes	Photo
Michael John Collier	604 886 1946? need contact information
Randy Collins	need contact information
Jan Conradi	need contact information Supervisor R.R. Haering
Daryl Crozier	crozier@sfu.ca	yes	Photo, Photo
Albert Curzon	curzon@sfu.ca	yes	Photo, Photo
Gregory Robert Davidson	need contact information
Mark Dowding	mark@windgod.ca 604 506 6916	yes	Photo
Fred Einstein	einstein@sfu.ca 604 777 9460	probable
Judy Einstein	judy_einstein@sfu.ca 604 777 9460	probable
Richard Enns	renns@sfu.ca	no response (deceased?)	Photo
Brian Farnworth	bfarnworth@shaw.ca 250 717 3381, 250 826 3381	camping in Alberta
Stephen Flach	physcsec@sfu.ca 778 782 3154	no
Robert Frindt	frindt@sfu.ca	yes	Photo, Photo
Jane Frindt	wife of Robert Frindt	yes	Photo
Peter Garnett	pmgarnett18@gmail.com 604 922 7458	no
Pat Goldberg	whoopieg@gmail.com 604 984 2179	sick	Photo, Photo
Om Gupta	need contact information
Suso Gygax	s_gygax@sfu.ca 604 926 9528	no - deaf	Photo
Rudi Haering	haering@telus.net	no - conflicting wedding commitment
Olav Hansen	deceased after career in astrophysics
Ronald Brian Hansen	need contact information
Currie George Harbour	cgharbour@aol.com	on vacation in Alaska
Ronald Harrop	harrop@cs.sfu.ca no response (deceased?)
Bob Holdom	bob.holdom@utoronto.ca	no response
Dave Huntley	huntley@sfu.ca	yes	Photo
Chuck Irwin	irwin@sfu.ca	yes	Photo
Sandy Irwin	wife of Chuck Irwin	yes	Photo
Per Joensen	joensen@telus.net	no
Dieter Juergens	deceased after career in geophysics
Dr. Jeanne Keegan-Henry (AKA Jeanne Ganry)	jeanne.ganry@gmail.com	yes
James Lacomb	jlacombe@shaw.ca 250 656 7613	yes	Photo
Alex Peter Laks	aza@lynx.net 604 669 9117	car problem
Margaret Linquist	604 298 1797	maybe
Ken Lyall	ken.lyall@shaw.ca	no response
Mike MacDonald	submarine construction - need contact information
Howard Malm	howard@malm.ca	yes	Photo
Philip Manders	flyermanders@gmail.com	yes	Photo
James Gordon McCallum	(604) 858-2225?	no response
John McKilligan	Cdn Ice pairs champion with sister Betty - emigrated to Australia - need contact information
Vivian Merchant	v7491e@telus.net 250 549 2913	yes	Photo, Photo
Ron Ninnis	deceased - cancer 2014
Donald Walter Nyberg	need contact information Supervisor K. Colbow
John Francis O'Hanlon	need contact information Supervisor R.R. Haering
Roland Olund	Husband of Margaret Linquist	maybe
J. Oxton	need contact information
Barbara Anne Paine	250 717 3381, 250 826 3381	camping in Alberta
Evelyn Palmer	evelyn@sfu.ca 604 299 3731	yes	Photo
Leigh Palmer	palmer@sfu.ca 604 299 3731	yes	Photo, Photo
Brian Pate	bpate@telus.net	declining health
Christian Platteel	need contact information
Murray Press	murraypress@shaw.ca	conflicting wedding commitment
Thomas Coin Prediger	need contact information
Michael Alexander Purves	mapurves@yahoo.ca 250 370 5567	yes	Photo
Rosie Redfield (AKA Rosemary Gagne)	redfield@zoology.ubc.ca	conflicting UBC commitment	Photo
Charles Rhodes	cslrhodes@gmail.com 905 473 1704	yes	Photo, Photo
Heather Rhodes	hrhodes1@telus.net 604 988 4998	yes	Photo
Bermie Rieckhoff	via Klaus Rieckhoff	yes	Photo
Klaus Rieckhoff	k_rieckhoff@sfu.ca 604 987 5655	yes	Photo, Photo
Marianna Rieckhoff	via Klaus Rieckhoff	yes	Photo
Ian Robb	Laurentian University, Sudbury?
W. Sievers	need contact information
Bhim Sain Sharma	need contact information Supervisor K.E. Rieckhoff
Leonard John Smith	need contact information
Sheila Sorensen	(too many S Sorensens in BC) -need contact information
Jane Teare (wife of Daryl Crozier)	crozier@sfu.ca	no
Clement Harold Trenholm	ctrenhol@telusplanet.net	no – in Calgary
K. S. Viswanathan	kviswana@sfu.ca	no response	Photo
John Walkley	jwalkley@shaw.ca 604 929 6532	maybe
Walter Hugh Woollam	need contact information

 

TABLE FOR IDENTIFYING PERSONS IN PHOTOS

PERSON #	PHOTO LINK	NAME
PERSON #3	Photo	Vivian Merchant
PERSON #8	Photo	Albert Curzon
PERSON #9	Photo	Mike Purves
PERSON #10	Photo	Philip Manders
PERSON #11	Photo	Vivian Merchant
PERSON #12	Photo	Evelyn Palmer
PERSON #13	Photo	Marianna Rieckhoff
PERSON #14	Photo	Klaus Rieckhoff
PERSON #15	Photo	Bernie Rieckhoff
PERSON #16	Photo	Jim Lacombe
PERSON #17	Photo	Leigh Palmer
PERSON #18	Photo	Dr. Jeanne Keegan-Henry
PERSON #19	Photo	Eilidh Keegan-Henry
PERSON #20	Photo	Dave Huntley
PERSON #21	Photo	Konrad Colbow
PERSON #22	Photo	Robert Frindt
PERSON #23	Photo	Jane Frindt
PERSON #24	Photo	Howard Malm
PERSON #25	Photo	Heather Rhodes
PERSON #26	Photo	Sandy Irwin
PERSON #27	Photo	Tony Arrott
PERSON #28	Photo	Tony Arrott
PERSON #29	Photo	Tony Arrott & Chuck Irwin
PERSON #30	Photo	Chris Baudat
PERSON #31	Photo	Mark Dowding
PERSON #32	Photo	Daryl Crozier
PERSON #33	Photo	Pat Goldberg
PERSON #34	Photo	Pat Goldberg & husband Frank
PERSON #35	Photo, Photo	Charles Rhodes

 

OTHER PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL:

Lasers in the Physics Department Simon Fraser University 1969-1971 by V.E. (Vivian) Merchant, October 2014	Lasers at SFU
SFU Physics Solid State Summer School At Whistler 1967 provided by by Ken Lyall	Photo
SFU Physics 50th Anniversary Photos as edited by Vivian Merchant	Photo Collage
SFU Physics 50th Anniversary Photos as edited by Vivian Merchant	Photo Collage

 

TEXT MATERIAL:

LASERS AT SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY 1969-1971
Vivian Merchant was a SFU charter physics student (started in 1965) who remained at SFU for a Master's Degree in Physics during the period 1969 to 1971. He took a number of photographs which show the sophistication of the metal, glass, silica and Al2O3 experimental apparatus that SFU shops fabricated during the late 1960s. These same shops also fabricated sophisticated cryogenic apparatus. Regretfully, due to budget cuts, much of this sophisticated in-house apparatus fabrication capability was lost in subsequent years. This paper, written by Vivian Merchant in October 2014, also references various persons present at SFU and their roles during the period 1969-1971.
 

SFU Physics Club 1965-1966
This document is a collection of notes relating to 1965-1966, believed to originate from the files of Vivian Merchant. At that time Randy Collins was president of the SFU Physics Club. His girl friend was Lorna Bennett. Charles Rhodes, a SFU charter student in physics, was one of the youngest students on the SFU campus. Charles Rhodes received his drivers licence in 1965 just a few days before SFU opening. During the 1966 spring term Randy Collins and Charles Rhodes attended a Canadian Association of Physics undergraduate conference in Toronto. That trip was to have long term implications on the Canadian nuclear power industry that continue 50 years later. That trip, together with the war in Vietnam, led Charles Rhodes to take post graduate work in electrical engineering at the University of Toronto. In 2016 Charles Rhodes is a leading figure in promotion of liquid sodium cooled fast neutron reactors for arresting climate change.
 

Pat Goldberg Story(whoopieg@gmail.com)
During the period 1967-68 Pat Goldberg was a stunning young blond woman who was the only female in SFU advanced physics classes. Due to a sudden illness she was unable to attend the Physics Department 50 year reunion. However, she provided the following email text concerning her family and her work:

I am married (to Frank) for almost 20 years. We have three sons (Pete (and Tracey) in Stevston, Matt (and Delia) in Winnipeg, Matt (and Jaymie) in North Vancouver) and 5 grandchildren (Justice, Riley and Maya in Winnipeg; Carleigh in Steveston; Griffin in North Vancouver) ranging from almost one to 18 years old. We have two dogs Monty (Westie) and Zoomie (Cairn x Westie).

I taught Science 10, Physics 11, Physics 12 and Physics AP-C in Vancouver at Prince of Wales and King George Secondary and took early retirement in 2009. I am currently working on my Photography and Photoshop.
 

Mike Stinson Story(mikestinson42@gmail.com)
On February 1, 2023 C. Rhodes received the following information from Mike Stinson:
I was a student in the department 1967-1971, getting my B.Sc. (hon) in 1971. I remember many of the people, particularly Darryl Crozier (I worked as an assistant in his lab), Leigh Palmer (who was always supportive), Judy Einstein (who was a TA for one of my classes), Brian Farnsworth, Pat Goldberg, and Sheila Sorensen.

I stayed at SFU to do my M.Sc. under Rudi Haering (who moved to UBC part way through my studies). After a couple years break, I moved to Kingston and got my Ph.D. in Physics at Queen's University. I then worked at NRC in Ottawa for the next 32 years.
 

LASERS AT SFU 1969-1971
Vivian Merchant was a SFU charter student (started in 1965) who remained at SFU for a Master's Degree in Physics during the period 1969 to 1971. During that period he took a number of photographs which illustrate the sophistication of the metal, glass, silica and Al2O3 experimental apparatus that SFU shops could fabricate in the late 1960s. These same shops also fabricated sophisticated cryogenic apparatus. Regretfully, due to budget cuts, much of this sophisticated apparatus fabrication capability was lost in subsequent years.
 

Richard (Rick) Baartman Story(baartman@triumf.ca)
Mon, May 3, 2021, 1:30 PM to Charles.Rhodes
On May 3, 2021 C. Rhodes received the following email from Richard (Rick) Baartman:
"I was there (at SFU) 1970 to 1975 when I graduated in math-physics and won the GG gold medal. Later did M. Sc. Under Cochran. Senior scientist at Triumf now, but was hired 1980. I was contemporary with Bernie Rieckhoff, Mark Dowding, Jeannie Henry and others that were at the reunion."
Rick Baartman photo
In another email Rick indicated that no one notified him about the reunion. That was probably because C. Rhodes primarily targeted persons who attended SFU 1965 to 1968.

One person from UBC who was invited but who could not attend due to a conflicting UBC lecture commitment was Rosemary Redfield (nee Gagne) of UBC Zoology.
 

Sean Johnston
Emeritus Professor of Science, Technology and Society
University of Glasgow
Sep 14, 2021

Hello,
It was great to read your webpage about the 2015 reunion of the SFU physics department. I did my BSc and MSc there 1974-80 (masters under Bruce Clayman). I fondly remember my teachers David Huntley, Daryl Crozier, Suso Gygax, John Cochran, Konrad Colbow, Richard Enns, Chuck Irwin, Michael Plischke, K.S. Viswanathan, Leslie Ballentine, and particularly Evelyn Palmer, who had let me borrow a spectrometer from the Chemistry Dept while I was still in high school in Burnaby. My greetings to them all.

Subsequently I worked for 16 years as a physicist in Ontario, Quebec and England (Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, Bomem Inc, Lloyd Instruments plc, Laser Monitoring Systems Ltd, University of Leeds), completed a PhD in history and philosophy of science there and, after a postdoc at University of York in history of technology, joined the University of Glasgow teaching/researching history and philosophy of science for twenty years. I ended as a professor of science, technology and society, retiring just before the Covid pandemic in 2019.

Many thanks again for your page, which I hope can be archived permanently by the University.
 

Charles Rhodes Story(CSLRhodes@gmail.com)
Charles Rhodes, P.Eng., B.Sc., M.A. Sc., Ph.D., is Chief Engineer of Xylene Power Ltd. and FNR Power Ltd. Dr. Rhodes is both a physicist and developmental engineer. He completed his B.Sc. requirements in Honours Physics at Simon Fraser University in 1968. Then in 1969, at an extraordinarily young age, he became a senior instructor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Toronto. He completed his M.A.Sc. requirements in 1971, became a professional engineer in 1973 and completed his Ph.D. requirements in 1974. In 1974 he was a co-founder of a group of companies later known as ADMIC.

Dr. Rhodes has had past hands on experience with:
a) Design and construction of RF, HF, VHF and UHF communications equipment;
b) Cryogenic and plasma physics;
c) Solid state device fabrication and characterization;
d) Design, manufacture, programming, installation, operation and maintenance of distributed computer systems for: energy management, energy storage, equipment monitoring and environmental control in major buildings;
e) Design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of: energy metering equipment, commercial condensing boilers and co-generation systems;
f) Utility rate matters as they relate to major buildings and to behind the meter electricity generation and energy storage systems
g) Company organization and management.

Since 2003 Dr. Rhodes has been involved in:
a) Commercial lighting control;
b) Fossil fuel pipeline safety;
c) Wind generation;
d) The Ontario Power Authority Integrated Power System Plan;
e) Astrophysical analysis of climate change;
f) Used nuclear fuel recycling and interim storage;
g) Design of dependable and interruptible electricity rates;
h) Design of liquid sodium cooled fast neutron reactors;
i) Urban siting of modular low pressure fast neutron reactors for both electricity generation and district heating;
j) Water source heat pumps for use in major highrise buildings;
k) Promotion of sustainable nuclear fuel cycles;
 

This web page last updated February 2, 2023.