July 14, 2011
Local man appointed
to Order of Canada
by Vance Gutzman
Move over Stompin' Tom, because Bill Buyers will be driving down the
highway smiling as well, before too long.
All the way to Rideau Hall, in fact, where the distinguished local
scientist will be invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada by
Governor General David Johnston.
The Governor General announced last week that 50 prominent Canadians
have been appointed to the Order of Canada - 35 as Members and 15 as
Officers.
The Order of Canada, one of this country's highest civilian honours,
was established in the 1967 centennial year to recognize lifetimes of
outstanding achievement, dedication to community and service to the
nation.
Over the last 40 years, more than 5,000 people from all sectors of
society have been invested into the Order.
Buyers is being invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada for his
contributions to condensed matter physics, particularly in the field of
magnetism.
The honour that will be bestowed upon Buyers is being lauded by his
peers in the scientific community, including those at Atomic Energy of
Canada Limited (AECL) and the National Research Council (NRC).
Both the NRC and AECL noted last week that, since his arrival to Canada
from Britain in 1965, as an NRC post-doctoral fellow at Chalk River
Labs, Buyers has remained at the forefront of highly-correlated
electron systems.
Buyers' early work is cited as being pivotal in establishing the nature
of spin waves and crystal field excitations in magnetic materials, as
well as the nature of impurities in magnetic insulators.
Buyers also played a leading role in the field of quantum magnetism,
and his work led to the first observation of the "Haldane Gap" in the
spin spectrum of a spin-1 antiferromagnetic chain compound, which
confirmed the highly controversial speculation postulated by theorist
DM Haldane.
"Bill's tour de force neutron experiments have since ushered in a host
of experiments and theoretical studies world-wide, that continue to
this day," the NRC stated upon hearing of Buyer's appointment.
Although he retired from his position as a principal research officer
at NRC in 1995, Buyers retains an active research program as a visiting
scientist at the NRC's Canadian Neutron Beam Centre at Chalk River
Labs, as well as at the Canadian Institute for Advanced
Research.
His many accomplishments in the scientific arena belie Buyer's humble
manner.
"I was very surprised when I heard from the Governor General's office,"
he recalls.
"I said 'What did I do to deserve this?'"
An investiture ceremony will be held at Rideau Hall, likely early in
2012, and Buyers, ever the scientist, has been researching what
responsibilities come attached to being an Officer of the Order of
Canada.
"The good thing is I don't have to do any work," he says with a smile.
"It's purely honorary."
What surprises Buyers about his appointment is the fact that many of
his peers in the Order come from the entertainment world.
"Huge numbers of them are from the arts and music," he says.
"I like to joke that I'm in the same league with Stompin' Tom Connors
(who was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1996,
and who also staged an impromptu show in Swisha last week)
Although this may be one of the most prestigious awards in all of
Canada, it's not the first time Buyers has received accolades for his
scientific achievements.
His awards over the years include the Rutherford Memorial Gold Medal
from the Royal Society of Canada (1986), Gold Medal for Achievement in
Physics, Canadian Association of Physicists (2001), Queen’s Jubilee
Gold Medal commemorating the 50th anniversary of the accession of Queen
Elizabeth II to the throne (2002), Honorary Degree, Doctor of Science,
University of Aberdeen, Scotland (2008), and now, Officer of the Order
of Canada.
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