death_date death_place birth_place awards fields workplaces birth_date image article_title name
08 january 1981 saskatoon , saskatchewan helena , montana order of canada meteorology and climatology university of saskatchewan 01 november 1902 balfourcurrie1.jpg balfour currie
 balfour watson currie
balfour currie

balfour watson currie , -lrb- november 1 , 1902 -- january 8 , 1981 -rrb- was a canadian scientist specializing in the fields of meteorology and climatology .
born in montana , he came to saskatchewan at an early age .
his parents moved to a farm homestead at netherhill , near kindersley , in the west central region of the province .
because of his pioneer heritage , he was equally comfortable with internationally renowned scientists or with farmers in the field .
he came to the university of saskatchewan as a student and received a bachelor-level degree in physics -lrb- 1925 -rrb- and a master-level degree in physics -lrb- 1927 -rrb- .
his ph.d. program at mcgill university was completed in 1930 .
he was a staff member of the department of physics at the university of saskatchewan -lrb- 1928 - 1981 -rrb- , was professor of physics -lrb- 1943-70 -rrb- head of the department -lrb- 1952-61 -rrb- , founder of the institute of space and atmospheric studies -lrb- 1956-66 -rrb- , dean of graduate studies -lrb- 1959-70 -rrb- and vice-president , research -lrb- 1967-74 -rrb- .
upon his retirement as vice-president , he was appointed by the president of the university to be special advisor in research matters -lrb- 1974-78 -rrb- .
later in 1974 , he became canadian coordinator of the international magnetospheric study , and gave it his fullest attention until its completion at the end of 1979 .
during this period , he also pursued an earlier research interest in the possible influence of solar activity on prairie weather and rainfall .
early in his career , he spent two years in the canadian arctic .
currie and frank davies worked together at chesterfield inlet during the second international polar year -lrb- 1932-1933 -rrb- .
an online archive of currie 's work on 2nd ipy studies of the polar year data continued under his direction at the university of saskatchewan after world war ii .
in recognition of his outstanding contributions to his fields of study , he was elected a fellow of the royal meteorology society of great britain in 1940 , and a fellow of the royal society of canada in 1947 .
in 1972 , he was made a companion of the order of canada `` for his services to science and education especially in the fields of meteorology and climatology '' .
in 1977 he received an honorary doctor of science -lrb- space research -rrb- from york university .
