Conveners
W1-5 "Bertram Brockhouse and the History of Canadian Neutron Scattering" (DHP) | "Bertram Brockhouse et l'histoire de la diffusion de neutrons canadienne" (DHP)
- Patrick Clancy (McMaster University)
Neutron scattering in Canada began when Brockhouse, Myer Bloom and D. G. Hurst measured neutron scattering in highly absorbing Materials (Cd, Sm, Gd) by transmission measurements at the NRX reactor in Chalk River. Following this, the goal was to study differential scattering cross-sections, and work began in earnest in 1954, using a “primitive” triple-axis spectrometer at NRX. This began the...
Building on a foundation of scientific excellence, through the pioneering work of Bertram Brockhouse and others, the "Neutron and Solid State Physics" branch of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, at Chalk River, transitioned to a modern international user facility, beginning in the 1980s. The program was transferred to the National Research Council of Canada in 1997, from which time the...
The March 31, 2018 closure of the National Research Universal reactor marked the end of over 70 years of materials research using neutron beams at the Chalk River Laboratories in Chalk River, Ontario. This closure will have a major impact on the Canadian materials research community, including researchers in the physics, chemistry, and engineering of materials. We examine the impacts...
The McMaster Nuclear Reactor is a 5 MW nuclear reactor, which is now the only source of neutrons in Canada capable of supporting a neutron scattering program. In the past, its contributions to Canadian neutron beam science have been modest, largely due to the preeminent role played by in this area by the NRU reactor at the Chalk River Laboratories. Nonetheless, it has a distinguished history...