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Dr. Harvey Allen Buckmaster was born in Calgary, Alberta on April 8, 1929, and died in Victoria, BC on November 28, 2018. He received his Bachelor of Science (1st Class Honours) in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Alberta in 1950. He later graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1952 with his Master of Art in Applied Physics and with his Ph.D. in Experimental Physics in 1956.
Following Teacher Assistant positions at the University of British Columbia (1950-1952), and post-doctoral work at Cambridge University, Buckmaster was appointed as Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Alberta (1957-1960). He transferred in 1960 to the University of Alberta, Calgary (University of Calgary as of 1966) where he taught in the Department of Physics until 1993 when he was granted Emeritus Professor status. Buckmaster moved to Victoria as an Adjunct Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (1993-1995) and Physics and Astronomy (1994-2014) at the University of Victoria. He received the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Anniversary Medial "For Service to Canada" in 1978, and was awarded the Order of the University of Calgary in 2004.
Buckmaster's research activities and scholarly writings were in the fields of theoretical, experimental and meteorological electron paramagnetic resonance studies of lanthanide ions, fossil fuels and biological materials, experimental and meteorological microwave complex permittivity studies of high loss liquids, and science policy studies of global energy consumption scenarios and anthropogenic induced global warming due to the greenhouse effect.
Buckmaster was a life-long advocate for environmental issues and was involved in a variety of lobbying and advocacy issues that included the effects of industry on the environment (forestry and roads), development of parks including the national park system, Kananaskis, and Nose Hill Park in Calgary, community planning issues, health care, firearms, conservation areas, and the preservation of the Skagit Valley.
In his role as University of Calgary professor in the Physics Department, Buckmaster served as the U of C representative on the University of Alberta Academic Pension Plan Board and its successor, the Alberta Universities Academic Pension Plan. He also chaired the first review committee struck by Dr. W. Cochrane for the Faculty of Education, and was President of The University of Calgary Faculty Association prior to 1969 and again from 1972-1977.