George Craig Laurence (21 January 1905 – 6 November 1987) was a Canadian nuclear physicist. He was educated at Dalhousie University, and at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

under

Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' considers him to be the greatest ...

. He was appointed as Radium and X-ray physicist to the Canadian National Research Council in 1930. In 1939-40 he attempted to build a graphite-uranium reactor in Ottawa, anticipating Enrico Fermi's work by several months. In 1942 he joined the Anglo-French nuclear research team at the

Montreal Laboratory The Montreal Laboratory in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, was established by the National Research Council of Canada during World War II to undertake nuclear research in collaboration with the United Kingdom, and to absorb some of the scientists and ...

, where he was responsible for recruiting Canadian scientists. The laboratory later transferred to the

Chalk River Chalk River (2016 population: 1029) is a small rural village, part of the Laurentian Hills municipality in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Upper Ottawa Valley along Highway 17 (Trans-Canada Highway), inland (west) from ...

, and built the

ZEEP The ZEEP (Zero Energy Experimental Pile) reactor was a nuclear reactor built at the Chalk River Laboratories near Chalk River, Ontario, Canada (which superseded the Montreal Laboratory for nuclear research in Canada). ZEEP first went critical a ...

Reactor, the first outside the U.S.A. In 1946-47 he was in the Canadian delegation to the

United Nations Atomic Energy Commission The United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (UNAEC) was founded on 24 January 1946 by the very first resolution of the United Nations General Assembly "to deal with the problems raised by the discovery of atomic energy." The General Assembly asked ...

. He then returned to Montreal Laboratory and continued to carry out his research from 1950 to 1961. He was then at the Chalk River Laboratory, and was President of the

Atomic Energy Control Board The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC; french: Commission Canadienne de sûreté nucléaire) is the federal regulator of nuclear power and materials in Canada. Mandate and history Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission was established under t ...

from 1961 to 1970. Laurence Court, a street in

Deep River, Ontario Deep River is a town in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. Located along the Ottawa River, it lies about north-west of Ottawa on the Trans-Canada Highway. Deep River is opposite the Laurentian Mountains and the Province of Quebec. The name ''Deep ...

, is named in his honour.

Publication

''Early Years of Nuclear Energy Research in Canada '' by George C. Laurence

Publication

Archives

References

Further reading