John L. Climenhaga - Biography

Biography

John Leroy Climenhaga was born at Delisle, Saskatchewan, to Reuben S. Climenhaga, a farmer and Brethren in Christ minister, and Elizabeth Bert Climenhaga, the seventh of their ten children.

After completing his education in community public schools, Climenhaga began attending the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon in the fall of 1941. At the University of Saskatchewan, he was awarded a B.A. Honours degree in Physics and Mathematics in 1945 and an M.A. in Physics in 1949. In 1949, he joined the faculty of Victoria College in Victoria, British Columbia, a precursor institution to the University of Victoria. At Victoria College, he carried a heavy teaching load in Physics. In his early years at Victoria College, he began research in Astronomy at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (DAO) in Saanich, work that would lead to a M.A. in Astronomy and, in 1960, his PhD from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

In the late 1950s, Victoria College was undergoing rapid growth and additional faculty members in Physics were hired. Climenhaga was appointed Head of the Physics Department, a position he would hold until 1969. In 1963, Victoria College became the University of Victoria. Climenhaga had been an effective advocate of the college's transition to a university in the years leading up to 1963. In 1969, Climenhaga was appointed the new university's Dean of Arts and Science.

According to Dr. Harry Dosso, a long-time member of the Physics Department, Climenhaga "played a major role in guiding the Physics department into a broad spectrum of research fields." In achieving this goal, Climenhaga took advantage of scientific expertise that already existed in the region, particularly at the DAO and the Pacific Naval Laboratory, which was later renamed the Defence Research Establishment Pacific, Dosso said in an unpublished biography, quoted with permission, on which this article is partly based.

As Head of Physics, Climenhaga campaigned for the creation of a program in Astronomy. In 1965, the program began as an offering of the Physics Department, which later was renamed the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

In the early 1970s, Climenhaga championed the university's participation in TRIUMF, the Tri-University Meson Facility located on the campus of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of WESTAR, a consortium of universities that tried unsuccessfully to establish a major astrophysical observatory atop Mt. Kobau near Osoyoos, B.C.

During this period, Climenhaga oversaw expansion of the department's research efforts in Geophysics, Nuclear Physics, Acoustics, Gas dynamics and Theoretical Physics, as well as Astronomy.

With the Physics Department well established in undergraduate and graduate programs, Climenhaga accepted the position of Dean of Arts and Science in 1969. He held this position until 1972, a turbulent period in the history of the University of Victoria. During this time, Climenhaga remembered with typical understatement in an article published in the University of Victoria "Around the Ring" publication on April 2, 1982, "it was a rather rough time for the university as a lot of energy was devoted to things other than academic work." Dr. Dosso wrote of this period: "His fair minded and consistently honest approach to solving difficult matters served the university community well."

Following his service as an administrator, Climenhaga spent a sabbatical in 1972 and 1973 carrying out research at the University of Tokyo, the Radcliffe Observatory in South Africa and the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland. He then returned to teaching and research in the department. He continued a research collaboration with Dr. Jan Smolinski of the Institute of Astronomy of the Polish Academy of Sciences begun during his sabbatical year. A significant portion of his research involved the abundance ratio of Carbon 12 and Carbon 13 on cool carbon stars. Other research studied blanketing effects and micro-turbulence of super-giant stars.

Upon retirement in 1982, Climenhaga was honoured with the establishment of a scholarship in his name for a senior student in Astronomy. He was further honoured the same year when the observatory located on the roof of the University of Victoria's Elliott Building, where the Physics Department is located, was named the Climenhaga Observatory. This recognition was entirely appropriate, Dr. Dosso wrote, because in the 1960 when the building was constructed Climenhaga had persuaded the university to include the observatory although there was no Astronomy program at that time.

For several years after retirement, Climenhaga taught introductory courses in Physics and Astronomy at the university and gave many popular astronomy-related talks in the community. He served as Treasurer of the Canadian Astrophysical Society from 1983 to 1989, and continued his research collaboration with colleagues in Poland and Japan.

On his 70th birthday in 1987, he was honoured by the International Astrophysical Union when it assigned the name Climenhaga to an eight-kilometre asteroid (Minor Planet 3034 Climenhaga), which orbits the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

In June 1996, he was granted the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Victoria.

Climenhaga died on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at his home in Victoria, BC.