Jack Belrose

 

 

 

 

Celebrating a Career in Radio Science

 

jackawd.jpg (14050 bytes)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.

 

jackoh.jpg (14228 bytes)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.

 

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