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Univeristy of Toronto
 
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The Donald MacRae Scholarship

 

 

In recognition of Don MacRae’s outstanding contributions to teaching, the department of Astronomy and Astrophysics established the Donald MacRae Scholarship in Astronomy and Astrophysics in 2004.The MacRae Scholarship is awarded annually to an outstanding second year undergraduate student who is enrolled in the Specialist Program in Astronomy and Physics.

More on the award can be found at the following link:

www.astro.utoronto.ca/academics/undergraduate-studies/scholarships

At the inaugural presentation of the scholarship, the department hosted a special reception to honour Don. The reception was attended by friends of Don, members of the family and members of the department. The photo of Don on the left was taken at the reception, and clearly shows how pleased he was to accept this honour.

Professor Peter Martin, who was then Chair of the department, paid a special tribute to Don, as presented below:

 

Peter Martin’s remarks

Don joined the faculty in 1953.  In 1965 he was given the career appointment as Head, a position he filled admirably until 1978. He became Professor Emeritus in 1982.

Throughout his career Don had an unwavering commitment to providing his students with a quality education.  As a tribute to Don, the Faculty has decided to endow the Donald MacRae Scholarship in Astronomy and Astrophysics so that students can benefit from his legacy in perpetuity.  The endowment was made possible by the generous donations of friends and family.

Don MacRae came to UofT in 1953, 51 years ago [in 2004]. When you consider that there has been a distinctive astronomy program at UofT for about 100 years, you can appreciate that Don has a long association with the Department.  He served the department well, as professor and then Chairman and of course as Director of the DDO.  I regard him being in the vanguard in modern astronomy, always looking for ways to move the department ahead.  For example, he developed an interest in radio astronomy early on and interested the Department of Electrical Engineering (EE) in collaborating to build a small radio observatory at DDO. They achieved one of the earliest precise measurements of a flux density standard (Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A) to 5 percent accuracy at 320 MHz.  In the early 1960s plans were made to develop a radio astronomy observing site in Algonquin Park but these efforts were largely overtaken by the completion of the large 46-m antenna there by NRC in 1965.  This new telescope, operated as a national facility, began a new era in which the federal government provided the large facilities needed for the development of the discipline.  But the collaboration, now including Allen Yen in EE, continued and recorded the first VLBI fringes (ARO DRAO) in 1967.  In the ensuing years, department members have played leadership roles in exploiting national facilities like the synthesis telescope at DRAO and the JCMT and now look forward to ALMA and the eventual SKA.

My own first interactions with Don were apropos of today’s celebration in relation to our undergraduate program.  As an undergraduate I of course benefited from Don’s courses.  But I also remember that as Head he had time for undergraduates; I was able to talk to him about the future of astronomy and careers therein, and after three years in theoretical physics switched to the astronomy specialist stream in my fourth year.