Physics (UNBSJ)

Previous names: Department of Physical Sciences; Physics; Department of Physics

Established: --

History:

The Physics Programme at UNBSJ began in 1964 with first year lectures held at Beaverbrook House, the Y.M.C.A. and Saint John High School. Allan Boone, a UNB Fredericton faculty member, was hired to teach lectures for the first year and a permanent UNBSJ faculty member, Miles A. Keirstead, was recruited from Moncton to teach in 1965. Labs and offices occupied the former Chancery courtroom of the Old Provincial Building and classes remained scattered around the city of Saint John until 1969 when the Physics programme moved their classrooms, offices and labs to William Ganong Hall on the newly opened Tucker Park campus.

The Physics option first became available to students in 1967, allowing students in their first and second year to lay groundwork for a specialization in Physics in their third and fourth years at UNB Fredericton. Physics at UNBSJ remained within the UNB Fredericton Department of Physics under their Faculty of Science until 1974 when it was included as part of the UNBSJ Division of Mathematics and Sciences and then the UNBSJ Division of Science after 1976. In 1993, the Physics program became a part of the UNBSJ Faculty of Science, Applied Science and Engineering. It was listed under the UNBSJ Department of Physical Sciences and the UNB Fredericton Department of Physics until 2007. After 2008, only the first year of the UNBF Major or Honours Programme in Physics was offered at UNBSJ.

Physical location: William Ganong Hall

Faculty: Faculty of Science, Applied Science and Engineering, Faculty of Science

Notes: Linked to UNBF Department of Physics

Sources:

• Undergraduate Calendar (UA RG 86) 1965-2014
• UA Case 180, Section 3, File 1
• McGahan, Peter. The Quiet Campus : A History of the University of New Brunswick in Saint John, 1959-1969. Fredericton: New Ireland Press, 1998.