Fonds DK - David Arnold Keys fonds

David A. Keys was born in Toronto on November 4, 1890. He attended Upper Canada College, where he received the Governor General's Medal in both 1909 and 1910. He studied math and physics at the University of Munich, before going on to the University of Toronto (Trinity) for his B.A. and M.A. where he received the Loudon Gold Medal for 1st place Honours in Physics in 1915, as well as the Governor General's Silver Medal at Trinity the same year. He then attended Harvard, completing his A.M. (1917) and his Ph.D. in 1920, before going on to Cambridge University (Corpus Christi), (Ph.D., 1922). David Keys received numerous honourary degrees, professional awards and memberships, and held positions at the University of Toronto, Harvard, and Cambridge. He joined the McGill Physics Department in 1922, where he was Macdonald Research Professor in 1941. David Keys' specialty was geophysics, and he had the distinction of writing one of the earliest textbooks on the subject in 1929. During WWII, he was the Director of the Bureau of Technical Personnel, with assorted responsibilities assigning Canadian scientists to war work, as well as organizing special classes at McGill to train 2000 radar technicians for the RCAF. He was appointed Vice President in charge of the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories in 1947, and served as London liaison officer for Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. before retiring in 1961. David A. Keys also published many scientific publications on the subjects of piezoelectricity and applied geophysics, as well as many other articles, serial and society publications. He also authored and co-authored a number of physics and geophysics textbooks, as well as his own memoirs. David A. Keys died in Ottawa on October 28, 1977.