Sargent, Bernice Weldon

Dr. Bernice Weldon Sargent was born in 1906 in Williamsburg, Ontario. He came to Queen's University with an entrance scholarship in chemistry and physics and received a B.A. (Hons.) in 1926. In 1927 he received an M.A. from Queen's for work he did under Dr. J.A. Gray. In 1932 he was granted a Ph.D. degree by Cambridge University. Dr. Sargent joined Queen's University as a staff member in 1930 where he remained until 1943. From 1943 to 1951 he worked on the Atomic Energy Project, first at Montreal and later at Chalk River. In 1951 he returned to Queen's to head the Department of Physics and to direct the research in nuclear physics at the 70 Mev synchrotron. While head of the Physics Department, Dr. Sargent was very much involved with the design and construction of Queen's new physics building, Stirling Hall. In 1954 he was made the R. Samuel MacLaughlin Resident Professor of Physics at the university. He became a member of the American Physics Society, The Royal Society of Canada, and the Canadian Association of Physicists. Dr. Sargent, one of the first Canadian physicists to join the Atomic Energy Project of the National Research Council in 1943, was responsible for basic measurements on latices of uranium and heavy water in support of the design of the NRX reactor.