The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1967, Qupperneq 104

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Summer 1967
Posthumously Honored
Dr. Thorbergur Thorvaldson, Can-
ada’s foremost concrete chemist and
world leader in this field who died in
October, 1965, was posthumously
honored at two significant events in
April.
The first was a symposium in his
honor at the Royal York Hotel in Tor-
onto under the auspices of the division
of building research of the National
Research Council, held in conjunction
with the annual meeting of the Amer-
ican Concrete Institute. Specialists in
the field of concrete from Canada,
United States and England presented
papers. Among guests at the symposium
was Mrs. Thorvaldson, who was honor-
ed at a noon luncheon presided over
by Dr. R. F. Leggett, chairman of the
building research division of the Na-
tional Research Council. Dr. J. W. T.
Spinks, president of the University of
Saskatchewan and longtime colleague
of Dr. Thorvaldson, spoke about him
and Mrs. Thorvaldson.
The second event took place three
days later in the Thorvaldson Building
at the University of Saskatchewan in
Saskatoon, named after him, where a
large oil painting of him was unveiled.
The oil portrait was commissioned by
former research students and col-
leagues in the department of chemistry
and chemical engineering at the uni-
versity.
At the same ceremony, Saskatchewan
Minister of Education G. J. Trapp
presented identical plaques from the
Saskatchewan government to the uni-
versity and to Mrs. Thorvaldson. The
Dr. Thorbergur Thorvaldson
plaques commemorate the naming of
a lake in northern Saskatchewan in
honor of Dr. Thorvaldson, Thorvald-
son Lake, two miles long, is in the La
Ronge Pre-Cambrian area 50 miles
northeast of La Ronge village.
The plaques, each showing an aerial
photogrpah of Thorvaldson Lake and
a photograph of Dr. Thorvaldson, give
principal dates in the late scientist’s
life and mention some of the honors
he received. The inscription says the
lake was named after Dr. Thorvaldson
“to honor his brilliant career as a re-
searcher, particularly his studies on
the chemistry of cement, and his inspir-
ation and leadership as a teacher of
chemistry.”