The discipline of physics has existed at the University of Saskatchewan since 1910. Some early physics faculty members who achieved international prominence include Gerhard Herzberg, whose research in molecular physics led to a Nobel Prize in 1971, and Harold Johns who led the world in the use of (high-energy) radiation  for the treatment of cancer, first with the 22 MeV betatron (commissioned in the physics department  in 1947), and later with the development of Cobalt-60 cancer therapy. This tradition of  excellence and innovation has continued into the present era with two of our current faculty having been elected Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada.

In the 1950s Balfour Currie, who was an outstanding researcher in Auroral and Atmospheric Physics, developed undergraduate courses in meteorology and climatology, and a graduate program of ‘Upper Atmospheric Physics’ concerned primarily with aurora and airglow. This activity led to the founding of the ‘Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies’ in 1957. In 1958 Harvey Skarsgaard joined the faculty and initiated a research program in Plasma Physics.  He developed the world’s first plasma betatron, which attracted world attention to the work in Saskatchewan. This work led to the eventual formation of the ‘Plasma Physics Laboratory’, which continues as a major research group in the Department. In 1962, the Linear Accelerator Laboratory was opened under the leadership of Leon Katz. Housing a 160-MeV electron linear accelerator (LINAC) it replaced the betatron and Nuclear Physics became another major research focus in the department.

Throughout this period, the Department offered Majors and Honours Physics programs in the College of Arts and Science and a Bachelor of Engineering program in Engineering Physics in the College of Engineering. There was also an active graduate program with about 50 graduate students in M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs. An addition to the Physics building was opened in 1966, which expanded our laboratory space for teaching and research and provided superb teaching theatres.

In the 1970s, the Plasma Laboratory began development of the tokamak system for plasma confinement and study of fusion processes. From within the Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies (ISAS), Alex Kavadas created the ‘Space Engineering Division’ for the development of experimental systems for Rockets & Satellites, and became president of what is now SED Systems Ltd. The LINAC was upgraded to 300 MeV during this time.

In the early 1980s, the Linear Accelerator Laboratory, under the directorship of Henry Caplan, was awarded a grant to build a Pulse Stretcher Ring EROS (Electron Ring of Saskatchewan), creating large duty factor electron beams that allowed nuclear physics experiments not before possible. The facility became known as the Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory (SAL) and was a mainstay of the department’s experimental subatomic physics research program and became an international user facility.

As information and communication technology became more important, students flocked to the Department, especially in Engineering Physics. Indeed the dominant program taken by our students is now a B.E. in Engineering Physics, often taken simultaneously with a B.Sc. in Computer Science.  In 1990 the process was initiated to change the name of the Department to the ‘Department of Physics and Engineering Physics’ to reflect the changes in our clientele and our orientation.