|
|
Digital
Logic and Computer Systems
|
|
News
|
Sadly, the era of Physics 4D06 has come to a close.
Dr. Terence James Kennett
|
||
August 8, 1927 - March 11, 2013
|
||
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Terry on March 11, 2013 at St. Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton. Beloved and devoted husband to Kathleen for 63 years. Loving father to David (Jill), Karen Cooper (Clint) and Terry John. Proud grampa to Jennifer, Julie and Matthew and loving step- grandfather to Ryan. Predeceased by his parents John and Winifred. Terry will be sadly missed by Dr. William Prestwich (cousin) and many other colleagues from McMaster University's Department of Physics. Terry received his PhD in Nuclear Physics in 1956 and had a dedicated career teaching as well as conducting research at McMaster's nuclear reactor until his retirement in 1993. We will all miss the guidance and knowledge that he provided to us. The family would like to thank Dr. Trollope and Dr. Stevenson for their compassionate care. Cremation has taken place. Interment and a celebration of life will take place at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the charity of your choice. Please sign Terry's on-line book of condolence at www.catteleatonandchambers.ca |
||
This page is dedicated to Dr. Terry Kennett, the father of Physics 4D06
A Timeline and History behind 4D6 will be presented in the future. If you have some stories you would like to share please do not hesitate to send it to us.
History of Physics 4D6written by Terry Kennett, private correspondence to K. Chin, 02011.07.13
|
||
A Time LineSupportersHere are a few more names of TAs that I can remember. I must say that in all those 30 odd years I was associated with 4D6, the TAs always did an excellent job, probably because the onset of "the digital age" tweaked their interest. Clarence Verge also did a fine job in the operation of the lab. Doug Barber
|
||
LocationWhen I started in 1959, the lab was in the basement of the Burke Science Building. All the physics labs were on that floor and chemistry was on the first floor. We remained there until the Bourns building opened around the last half of the 60's. We were assigned a nice large lab just around the corner from the Physics office, across from the 3rd year electronics lab. The lab was where the PDP-8/S was installed shortly after we moved there. There was, in a short time, a space war with many eyes looking at our quarters as a place for research. At the same time, Mac was finally creating a computer science department, located in the General Science Building. Because of common interests and the ABB pressures, we moved to the GSB in the early 70's. Over the years Don Sprung put constant pressure on me to move the lab, but I refused unless an equivalent lab could be found. Unfortunately, the association with Computer Science, while starting out okay, slowly weakened. This may have been because most members were applied mathematicians.
|
||
Evolution of 4D6When I started teaching in 1959, the lab was operated on quite outdated equipment. Feeling that without modern equipment, students would not gain skills that could lead to gainful employment, I set out to upgrade the lab. The scopes were Heathkits, put together by the students . . . not a very enlightening experience. Electronics was low priority at this time and no physicist on the small faculty cared about being actively involved since really, it just wasn't physics! Consequently, no updating had occurred for many years. Initially I requested a few thousand dollars and bought some used Tektronix scopes. These allowed us to move into the contemporary world! At this point students started building and testing pulse and simple digital circuits. This covered the time span 1959 to the mid 60s.
|
||
|
DEC PDP-8/SWhen the Bourns building was complete, a windfall of dollars was made to equip labs in the new building. I cannot recall how much we got but would guess it was around $150,000. With such a sum, it seemed wise to really update the lab for the future needs of students. At the time Digital Equipment was producing mini computers and the university, other than the administration, had only a very dated Bendix computer. As I recall, this was about as powerful as an HP calculator. Consequently, it made sense to acquire a modern computer, say the PDP-8. Because of the rather high cost, we settled for the slower serial machine, the PDP-8/S. I believe the cost was probably around $50,000. With the remaining money, scopes, test equipment and DEC cards were acquired. This PDP-8/S was the first departmental computer on campus and the envy of the engineers, particularly electrical engineering. Several chemical engineers took 4D6 to gain experience in the evolving digital world. This digital leadership lasted for a few years when other departments started to acquire minicomputers. My goal had always been to enhance professionalism for students and I must say that your contribution to all aspects of 4D6 was outstanding. Your dedication, interest and technical ability made all my wishes come to pass. I hope this note will provide you with the material you requested. In the mean time, continue to contribute your skills for the betterment of students. - Terry Kennett
(edited: 02013.03.29) |
|
4D6 Time Line |
|||
1959 |
4D6 Lab starts in basement of Physical Sciences Blgd., now named Burke
Science Bldg. |
||
196? | moved to Senior Sciences Bldg., now named Arthur Bourns Bldg. | ||
197? | moved to Room 222, General Sciences Bldg. | ||
1973 | Kenrick Chin, TA | ||
1974 | Kenrick Chin & Gord Cormick, TA | ||
1975 |
Gord Cormick, TA, Kenrick Chin, Technician DG Nova 2 used for teaching |
Data General Nova 2 minicomputer |
|
1976 | Nick Barkman, TA | ||
1982 | IBM Personal Computer appears | ||
1984 | Apple Macintosh introduced | ||
1990 | First Lab manual, created on an Apple 512K Macintosh and WriteNow | ||
1999 | 4D6 goes online on the web | ||
2006 | moved to Room B157 - Burke Science Bldg. (back where it started?) | ||
2010-2011 | final year of 4D06 | ||
2011-present | lab now used for Physics 3BA3 Electronics I and Physics 3BB3 Electronics II | ||
more interesting things to be added later
Graduate Students and Teaching Assistants |
||
Jerry Skene |
||
Instructors and Teaching Assistants |
|||||||
Dr. William V. Prestwich1995 Nek Manji 1998 Nek Manji, Erin Niven |
|
Sean Woodworth |
|||||
2002 - 2007Dr. Gerry Moran2002 Ryan Studinski |
Kara Schnaar Jamie Smith |
Andrew Logan Nick Leeson |
Diana Moscu Paul Hartley |
Ryan Studinski Mohamed Naser |
|||
2008Dr. Tatiana Zaraiskaya2008 Sergei Obruchkov |
Sergei Obruchkov |
Yi Gan |
|||||
2009-2010Dr. Nick Bock2009 Alyaa Elzibak |
Alyaa Elzibak |
Andrew Davis |
|||||
1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 |
|
|
|||
1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 |
|
|
|||
1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 |
|
|
|
|
|
1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
|
TA ABDALLA, Abdalla
|
|
|
|
1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 |
Koch, Jim |
TA ADAMS, Jim
|
TA Adamson, Eric
|
|
|
1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
TA Allan, John
|
TA Bentley, Mark |
TA Alibhai, Rahim |
TA Abdel, Faris
|
|
2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
TA ARO, Jonathon |
AJMERA, Alok
|
|
|
|
Site under construction - please accept our apologies for any omission or errors.
If you have more information or stories to add please drop us a line.