Thomas Proctor Hall (1858–1931) was a Canadian
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
who wrote mathematics, chemistry, physics, theology, and science fiction.
T. Proctor Hall was born October 7, 1858 at
Hornby, Ontario. He attended
Woodstock College
Woodstock College was a Jesuit seminary that existed from 1869 to 1974. It was the oldest Jesuit seminary in the United States. The school was located in Woodstock, Maryland, west of Baltimore, from its establishment until 1969, when it moved to ...
and
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
where in 1882 he obtained a bachelor's degree in
chemistry. For two years he was a fellow at University of Toronto, then he served as science master in
Woodstock, Ontario
Woodstock is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The city has a population of 40,902 according to the 2016 Canadian census. Woodstock is the seat of Oxford County, at the head of the non-navigable Thames River, approximately 128 km from ...
for five years.
He proceeded to
Illinois Wesleyan University
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockford ...
for his doctorate. He then studied at
Clark University
Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...
where
W. E. Story lectured on higher-dimensional space. Hall contributed to the topic with his article "The projection of fourfold figures upon a three-flat". He wrote, "Rotation is essentially motion in a plane, and when another dimension is added to the rotating body, another dimension is also added to the axis of rotation." From 1893 to 96 he was professor of natural science at
Tabor Academy, Massachusetts
Tabor Academy is an independent preparatory school located in Marion, Massachusetts, United States. Tabor is known for its marine science courses. Tabor's location on Sippican Harbor, Buzzards Bay, has earned it the name of "The School by th ...
.
Albert A. Michelson
Albert Abraham Michelson FFRS HFRSE (surname pronunciation anglicized as "Michael-son", December 19, 1852 – May 9, 1931) was a German-born American physicist of Polish/Jewish origin, known for his work on measuring the speed of light and esp ...
was teaching physics at Clark University. Examining methods of determining
surface tension, in 1893 Hall published the article "New methods of measuring surface tension of liquids". The following year he contributed an article on
stereochemistry to
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
. And the next year he wrote on
gravitation including the speculative
kinetic gravity. From 1897 to 1901 he taught physics in Kansas City.
T. Proctor Hall became a
medical doctor in 1902 after study in Chicago at the National Medical College. At the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904 he spoke on "Principles of Electro-therapeutics" at the International Electrical Congress held in connection with the Exposition. From 1902 to 5 he was editor of ''American X-ray Journal''. In 1905 Hall relocated to
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...
where he practiced medicine as Dr. Thomas P. Hall. He was a proponent of
heliotherapy and wrote, "
Sunshine has been used for ages in the cure of disease; and sunshine is only a very narrow range of ether waves. Now that the fuller range of ether waves is coming under control, we may surely expect to obtain a large increase of power over misfortune and disease," in a
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
story.
T. Proctor Hall died in 1931.
Academy of science
T. P. Hall joined the British Columbia Academy of Science (BCAS) at its second meeting. He presented his paper "Scientific Theology" at a meeting December 3, 1910. The following March 4th the BCAS met at his
home-office
Small office/home office (or single office/home office; sometimes short SOHO) refers to the category of business or cottage industry that involves from 1 to 10 workers.
In New Zealand, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) ...
at 1301 Davie Street in Vancouver’s
West End. Hall was elected Vice President for 1911-12. He spoke on "A Theory of Electromagnetism" on November 18 at the McGill University College. Hall was elected President of BCAS on April 13, 1912. In 1913 he was also President, with
Charles Hill-Tout Charles Hill-Tout (1858–1944) was an ethnologist and folklorist, active in British Columbia, born in Buckland, Devon, England, on 28 September 1858.
In his early years, Hill-Tout studied divinity at a seminary in Lincoln and preached in Cardiff. ...
of
Abbotsford Vice President. The following year Hall served as Secretary-Treasurer while Hill-Tout was President. That year BCAS published seven papers assembled in a book, two by Hall, including "Scientific Theology". The other was "A Geometric Vector Algebra", which included
quaternions.
[ Frank L. Hitchcock (1914]
Review: A Geometric Vector Algebra
Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society
The ''Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society'' is a quarterly mathematical journal published by the American Mathematical Society.
Scope
It publishes surveys on contemporary research topics, written at a level accessible to non-experts. I ...
21(8):415,6 In 1916 Hall was official Librarian of BCAS, and he spoke at the December meeting: "A scientific musical scale". That year BCAS acted as host for an excursion to the
Point Grey
Point Grey ( Squamish: Elḵsn) is a headland marking the southern entrance to English Bay and Burrard Inlet. The headland is the site of Wreck Beach, Tower Beach, Point Grey Beach and most notably, since 1925, on its top is the Point Grey Camp ...
lands destined to become the UBC campus. The BCAS
minutes contain a
clipping
Clipping may refer to:
Words
* Clipping (morphology), the formation of a new word by shortening it, e.g. "ad" from "advertisement"
* Clipping (phonetics), shortening the articulation of a speech sound, usually a vowel
* Clipping (publications) ...
from a published report describing
Professor Klinck’s preparatory work on campus. BCAS also began the Vancouver Institute lecture series that has supplemented
continuing education for adults in the city. On April 20, 1917, Hall spoke on "Sodium thio-silicate beads in blowpipe analysis". He remained Librarian until 1920, when he was also simultaneously Vice President and Auditor. He continued as Auditor until 1923 when he reported on "The Electronic Reactions of
Abrams", a controversial topic. The November 26 meeting passed a resolution that speakers should henceforth make a
disclaimer
A disclaimer is generally any statement intended to specify or delimit the scope of rights and obligations that may be exercised and enforced by parties in a legally recognized relationship. In contrast to other terms for legally operative langua ...
that their remarks are not to be understood to be endorsed by BCAS.
As
UBC
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top three ...
had by then been established, and the sciences were therefore at home in the Province, some members of BCAS began to question its purpose in 1925. But the Academy carried on, and in 1947 initiated a series of Science Conferences at which the work of high school students was featured. This series continued until 1961 when the fifteenth and last one was held. BCAS was disbanded in 1963.
References
* British Columbia Academy of Science fonds (four boxes), Rare Books and Special Collections,
University of British Columbia Library.
* T. Proctor Hall (1914
A Geometrical Vector Algebrafrom
HathiTrust.
* Lawrence E. Ranta (1961) "British Columbia Academy of Science", 7 typewritten pages, folder 1, Box 1 of BCAS fonds, Rare Books and Special Collections, UBC library.
* Tony Robbin (2006) ''Shadows of Reality'', page 15,
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous.
, Yale Universi ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, T. Proctor
Clark University alumni
1858 births
1931 deaths
Canadian radiologists
History of Vancouver
Light therapy advocates
Physicians from British Columbia