James Milton Ham, (September 21, 1920 – September 16, 1997) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

engineer, university administrator and President of the

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 ...

. He chaired the Royal Commission on the Health and Safety of Workers in Mines, and was described as the father of occupational health and safety in Canada.

Early life and education

Born in Coboconk, Ontario, Ham attended

Runnymede Collegiate Institute Runnymede Collegiate Institute (colloquially known as Runnymede CI, RCI, or Runnymede) is a public high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school first opened in 1927 and is operated by the Toronto District School Board. Runnymede has a pop ...

and received a B.A.Sc. degree from the

in 1943.

Career

After graduation, Ham joined the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

as an electrical officer. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, he was a lecturer and housemaster in the Ajax division of the University of Toronto. In 1946, he left to study at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

where he received an S.M. degree in 1947 and an

Sc.D. Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

degree in 1952. He was a research associate from 1949 to 1951 and was assistant professor of electrical engineering from 1951 to 1952. In 1953, he returned to the University of Toronto as associate professor of electrical engineering, becoming professor in 1959. He headed the Department of Electrical Engineering in 1964, before becoming the dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering in 1966 and the Dean of Graduate Studies in 1976. He served as president of the University of Toronto from 1978 to 1983. In 1983, he received the Sir John Kennedy Medal. He was appointed president emeritus in 1988. Ham was a Canadian pioneer in the teaching and promotion of research in the field of

automatic control Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

. He supervised the first doctoral students in that field at a Canadian university. He initiated the Associate Committee on Automatic Control of the

National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; french: Conseil national de recherches Canada) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research & development. It is the largest federal research ...

and chaired that committee from 1959 to 1964. He was a member of the executive committee of the

International Federation of Automatic Control The International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), founded in September 1957, is a multinational federation of 49 national member organizations (NMO), each one representing the engineering and scientific societies concerned with automatic c ...

from 1966 to 1972. He was also an enthusiastic teacher of the fundamental principles of electrical engineering and was the author, with Gordon Slemon, of a textbook on that topic.

Professional affiliations

Ham was a member of the

, from 1969 to 1974. He was chairman, Committee on Education and Training, of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations from 1971 to 1974. From 1974 to 1976, he was the chairman of the

Ontario government The government of Ontario (french: Gouvernement de l'Ontario) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Ontario. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown—represented in the province by the lieutenant governor� ...

's Royal Commission on Health and Safety of Workers in Mines (known as the Ham Commission). The commission's report included 117 recommendations about health and safety in mines. The report also established the Internal Responsibility System ("IRS"), a strategy for the oversight of health and safety in the province's workplaces that remains today as a standard that has been adopted across Canada and internationally. He was chairman, Advisory Committee on Safety and Training, Royal Commission on the

Ocean Ranger ''Ocean Ranger'' was a semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit that sank in Canadian waters on 15 February 1982. It was drilling an exploration well on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, east of St. John's, Newfoundland, for Mobil Oil o ...

Marine Disaster from 1982 to 1985. From 1986 to 1988 he was chairman, Industrial Disease Standards Panel, Ministry of Labour, Ontario. The Panel had been created by statutory amendments to the Workers' Compensation Act. Its purpose was to investigate issues of occupational disease in the province; and to make policy recommendations to the Workers' Compensation Board for possible compensation. Among the issues tackled by the Panel during his two years as Chairman can be included lung diseases in gold and uranium mining, various cancers from PCB exposures, and other contentious occupational disease issues. In 1987, he was a founding fellow of the

Canadian Academy of Engineering The Canadian Academy of Engineering (french: L'Académie canadienne du génie) is a national academy of distinguished professional engineers in all fields of engineering, who are elected on the basis of "their distinguished service and contribution ...

, serving as its vice president from 1988 to 1989 and president from 1990 to 1991. He was advisor to the president of the

Canadian Institute for Advanced Research The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) is a Canadian-based global research organization that brings together teams of top researchers from around the world to address important and complex questions. It was founded in 1982 and is s ...

from 1988 to 1990.

Honours and awards

In 1980, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

in recognition as a "scientist, engineer and scholar who has had a distinguished academic and administrative career".* He was posthumously selected as a 2014 inductee into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame. The induction took place in Ottawa on January 20, 2015. In 1989, he was awarded the

Order of Ontario The Order of Ontario () is the most prestigious official Award, honour in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the A ...

. He was made a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 1967. He received the Sir John Kennedy medal from the

Engineering Institute of Canada The Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) (French: l'Institut canadien des ingénieurs; ICI) is a federation of fourteen engineering societies based in Canada, covering a broad range of engineering branches, and with a history going back to 1887. F ...

in 1983. He was awarded honorary doctoral degrees by 13 universities in Canada and Korea.

References

Sources

* *

External links

James M. Ham archival papers
held at th
University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ham, James 1920 births 1997 deaths Canadian academics in engineering Canadian Anglicans Canadian university and college faculty deans Officers of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of Ontario Presidents of the University of Toronto University of Toronto alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni People from Kawartha Lakes Royal Canadian Navy personnel of World War II Royal Canadian Navy officers