Hot times, summer in the (Forest) city

Summer conjures images of long evening walks with the kids or the dog, or both, picnics, sunbathing, fishing, baseball, but what about history?  Maybe not so much.  But it could!  We're open Thursdays as well as Fridays and Saturdays through Labour Day weekend.  And, in the mind-boggling, sidewalk-egg-frying heat, why not come in and cool off a little.  We've got air conditioning.  And history.  And there are baseball diamonds just up the hill, and a fishing hole just down the hill, and plenty of picnicking spots and walking trails.  What are you waiting for? 

And, if you happen to be in Toronto, in the neighbourhood of Queen's Park, why not go in and check out our Community Exhibits display?  We're in the company of many other fine groups and museums, such as Port Colborne and the Museum of Ontario Archaeology.  It runs right through until November. 

A snap of the CEP display at Queen's Park, Toronto.  We're thrilled to be participating. 

Happy Birthday to Us !

On this day, ten years ago, The Secrets of Radar opened its doors to the public for the first time.  Opened with the intention of sharing the almost forgotten legacy of Canadian radar ​involvement in World War II.  With a collection largely derived from the generosity of veterans and their families, made up of artefacts, photographs, documents and books, we offer a quiet place for visitors and academics to conduct research. 

The museum made it a mission to assemble and record the stories of veterans and now holds a substantial collection of oral history interviews which have formed part of the foundation for the museum's exhibitions.  The story now stretches into the height of the Cold War, gathering the stories of veterans of the early warning radar lines and NORAD. From the technology of radar to the people behind it, its military and civilian history are covered in three large exhibition spaces.  We offer outreach, tours and programs for adults and children all year long and are happy to co-operate and collaborate with other institutions and organisations.

Now, as we move toward the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, this small-but-mighty museum is poised to ​begin a renewal process that will include a travelling exhibition and a refresh and redesign of our permanent exhibits.  You can expect to hear more about these exciting endeavours in the upcoming months.

If you'd like to know more about how you can help us grow over the next decade, please visit our "Get Involved" page.

Thanks for being part of our first 10 years.  We wouldn't be here without you.​

Dr. Elizabeth Rebecca Laird

Today is International Women's Day, so in honour of the day, let's take a moment to recognise Dr. Elizabeth Laird, one of the first women working in physics and pioneer in Canadian Radar research. She was already retired from a 40-year academic career when she volunteered to assist in the University of Western Ontario's war-time Radar work in 1940. This began a further multi-year career with Western and long association with the department, finally ending with her death in 1969 at 94 years of age.

​From our People and Places exhibit:

Elizabeth Laird was born in Owen Sound, Ontario, and spent much of her youth here in London.  She graduated from the University of Toronto in 1896, but despite having been at the top of her class for three years, her graduate school scholarship applications were rejected solely because she was female.

While undertaking PhD studies at Pennsylvania's Bryn Mawr College, Laird was awarded a fellowship to study under the famous physicist Max Planck at the University of Berlin in Germany.  Although women were not formally admitted to the university at the time, Laird later recalled that, “there was no crowding in mathematics and physics, and I had no difficulty in getting permission form the different professors to attend their lectures."  Laird received her PhD from Bryn Mawr in 1901 for her work on magnetism and spectroscopy, and was hired as an assistant in the Science Department at Mount Holyoke College.  By 1904, she was promoted to Professor and made Head of the department. Over the next four decades, Laird undertook research at such distinguished schools as Cambridge, Yale, and the Universities of Chicago and Berlin.

By the time Laird retired from Mount Holyoke and returned to London in 1940, the world was at war.  Hoping to help the war effort, she walked into the Physics Department at the University of Western Ontario and asked if she could be of use. Laird's offer was gratefully accepted, and she was made part of a new team of researchers doing intensive research on radar development.  Throughout the course of the war, she played a key role in studies on antennae radiation patterns and the radiation and detection of centimetre-wavelength waves.  Laird presented several top secret reports on her findings to the National Research Council, taught army and navy personnel, and took her turn monitoring the unheated observation station on the university's campus – and refused pay for any of it.

Laird was made an Honorary Professor at UWO in 1945.  Post-war, she investigated the effects of microwave radiation on biological materials, work supported by the Ontario Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation.  By the time she retired for the second  time in 1953, she was not only one of Canada's most distinguished physicists, but also the oldest.

Dr. Elizabeth Rebecca Laird died in 1969, at the age of 94.

Radar Resolutions

Image borrowed from this site, which has nothing at all to do with radar.

Image borrowed from this site, which has nothing at all to do with radar.

The year is drawing to a close and, as is traditional in Canadian society, we look to the future with an eye for betterment, improvement, enjoyment, hopes, and wishes.  Museums tend more toward vision statements, strategic planning documents, and exhibition plans rather than New Year Resolutions, but there's a nice informality to resolutions, and if you fail in achieving them, you don't lose your funding.

So, for the sake of the season, here are our Resolutions for the betterment of the museum.  In 2013:

  1. We resolve to be a more engaging museum, be it through our exhibits, our research amenities, or through social media.
  2. We resolve to make sure we give all facets of our Mandate equal weight.
  3. We resolve to become the best known "secret" in London so that we're secret in name only!
  4. We resolve to build excitement through new approaches to our subject matter.

Do you think we can do it?  It may not be easy, but we're confident.  With plans in the works to refurbish old displays and to create new content, and with ideas for building both partnerships and audiences, we think this is going to be a pretty exciting year.  As 2012 wraps up, we're anticipating that the energy and interest we've been building through the fall will take us to some fantastic new places. 

As a final thought, we'd like to take a moment to thank our volunteers for their hard work.  Norman Warnick and Roy Taylor are two of our wonderful volunteer tour guides.  Norman loves history and telling stories, bringing enthusiasm to all his tours.  Roy has been with the museum since the very beginning and is a WW2 Radar veteran able to share his own real life experiences.  Lawrence Petch has recently retired from volunteering, but his love of history and research have helped make our story that much stronger.  Thanks, Lawrence!  New volunteers Liz Myers (with her huge personality and love of organisation) and Bill Hilton (he's the guy who 'makes things go' for live demos) are happy additions to the Radar family.  Welcome!

We wish you a very safe and happy New Year's Eve and all the best for the coming year.  See you in the future!

Yes, we are live!

I won't bore you with the challenges we face in migrating our website, or why any recent visitor might have landed on Network Solutions generic "under construction" page.  Let's just be grateful that everything, more or less, is working.  This means that we can stop worrying about the technical challenges and instead take the time to make this new website fantastic.  In the meantime, you're welcome to share your stories and ask your questions once again.  Thanks for being patient.

... are we live?

Well, we're back after an extended absence from the web.  You probably notice that things look a little different around here.  We took the opportunity afforded us by our significant down-time to revamp our page a little.  Okay, a lot.

Our old page was rather static, so some of the things you can look forward to seeing on the new page include this blog, for a start, as well as a new multimedia page for audio and film clips, as well as a "From the Vault" section, which will showcase some of our artefacts.  We're considering a section for "Your Stories" because so many of you share your own family radar histories with us that we'd like to share them with the world!

What do you think?  Comments are always appreciated.