George Laurence

For the Archdeacon of Lahore, see George Laurence (priest). For the people of a similar name, see George Lawrence (disambiguation).

George Laurence
Born	21 January 1905 Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Died	6 November 1987(1987-11-06) (aged 82) Deep River, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Citizenship	Canada
Alma mater	Dalhousie University Cambridge University Imperial College London
Known for	Development of nuclear energy and nuclear safety principles
Scientific career
Fields	Nuclear Physics
Institutions	Montreal Laboratory (ML) Chalk River Laboratories(CRL) United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (UNAEC) Atomic Energy Control Board
Doctoral advisor	Ernest Rutherford
Doctoral students	Ishfaq Ahmad

George Craig Laurence (21 January 1905 – 6 November 1987) was a Canadian nuclear physicist. He was educated at Dalhousie University, and at Cambridge University under Ernest Rutherford.

He was appointed as Radium and X-ray physicist to the Canadian National Research Council in 1930. In 1939-40 he attempted to build a graphite-uranium reactor in Ottawa, anticipating Enrico Fermi's work by several months. In 1942 he joined the Anglo-French nuclear research team at the Montreal Laboratory, where he was responsible for recruiting Canadian scientists. The laboratory later transferred to the Chalk River, and built the ZEEP Reactor, the first outside the U.S.A.

In 1946-47 he was in the Canadian delegation to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission. He then returned to Montreal Laboratory and continued to carry out his research from 1950 to 1961. He was then at the Chalk River Laboratory, and was President of the Atomic Energy Control Board from 1961 to 1970.

Laurence Court, a street in Deep River, Ontario, is named in his honour.

References

• Early Years of Nuclear Energy Research in Canada by George C. Laurence
• The Canadian Encyclopedia Volume II (1988, 2nd Edition, Hurtig, Edmonton).