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Maestro of Science
Omond McKillop Solandt and Government Science in War and Hostile Peace, 1939-1956
Jason S. Ridler (Author)
9781442647473
Hardback, published 30 October 2015
384 pages
23.9 x 16.8 x 3 cm, 0.72 kg
‘Ridler provides fascinating insights into a fine grained history – the experiences of a scientist-administrator balancing the demands of research and the political imperatives of the wartime and postwar worlds.’
One of the brightest Canadian scientists of his generation, Omond McKillop Solandt was a physiologist by training, an engineer by disposition, and a manager by necessity. A protÉgÉ of insulin’s co-discoverer, Charles Best, Solandt worked as a scientist for the British government during the Second World War, including as a pioneer of operational research and a manager of scientific establishments. Ending the war as a colonel, he served on the British Mission to Japan, where he studied the effects of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, before returning to Canada to become chairman of the newly created Defence Research Board. There he spearheaded Canada’s attempt to create a new and innovative government science infrastructure that served the needs of the Canadian military at the dawn of the nuclear age and worked alongside allies in Britain and the United States. In Maestro of Science, Jason S. Ridler draws on interviews with Solandt and his colleagues and declassified records from Canada and the United Kingdom to paint a vivid picture of the influence and achievements of a Canadian leader in Cold War military research.
Chapter One: Introduction Chapter Two: Idyllic Childhood: The Early Years of Omond Solandt, 1909–1921 Chapter Three: ProtÉgÉ: Omond Solandt and Charles Best in Toronto and Leningrad, 1927–1935 Chapter Four: Commencement: Solandt, Cambridge and the Ontario Polio Epidemic, 1936–1939 Chapter Five: First Taste of War: Solandt and the Southwest London Blood Depot, 1940 Chapter Six: Tank Doctor: Omond Solandt, Director of the Physiological Research Laboratory, Lulworth, 1941–-1942 Chapter Seven: Managing Science: Omond Solandt and the British Army Operational Research Group, 1943–1945 Chapter Eight: Atomic Battlefield: Solandt and the British Mission to Japan, November 1945 Chapter Nine: The Only Man for the Job: Omond Solandt and the Origins of the Defence Research Board, 1943–1946 Chapter Ten: A Doctor Among Soldiers: Solandt, Canada’s First Scientific Chief of Staff, 1946–1956 Chapter Eleven: A Decade of Leadership: Omond Solandt, Chairman of the Defence Research Board, 1946–1956 Chapter Twelve: Rockets, Germs and UFOS: Solandt, the Establishments, and Public Perceptions of the DRB, 1946–1956 Chapter Thirteen: Canada’s Defence Research Diplomat: Solandt and the DRB’s International Connections, 1946–1956 Chapter Fourteen: Atomic Realist: Omond Solandt and Nuclear Weapons, 1945–1956 Chapter Fifteen: Conclusion