[SPA] SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER, Volume XXIX, Issue 61

[Newsletter Editor]

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER
Volume XXIX, Issue 61
Oct.23,2022

***********************************************************************

Table of Contents

1. Obituary: Leroy Leonard Cogger

***********************************************************************

Announcement Submission Website: http://goo.gl/forms/qjcm4dDr4g


1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Obituary: Leroy Leonard Cogger

From: Andrew Yau, Andrew Howarth, David Knudsen, Sandy Murphree, Trond Trondsen (yau at ucalgary.ca)

Leroy L. Cogger was the Founding Director of the former Institute for Space Research at University of Calgary (U of C), and long-time Professor and Professor Emeritus at U of C. Dr. Cogger died peacefully on October 5, 2022, at his home in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, at the age of 85.

Dr. Cogger earned his doctorate at the University of Saskatchewan in 1968, where he developed optical instrumentation to study upper atmospheric airglow under the supervision of Gordon G. Shepherd.  Following a three-year post-doctoral position at Arecibo Observatory, Dr. Cogger joined the Physics department at the University of Calgary in 1971, rising to the rank of Professor in 1982.  His early research centered on observations of upper atmosphere dynamics using a variety of techniques followed by working with airglow and aurora observations from Canada’s ISIS-II satellite.  In 1979 he led a team that, in conjunction with Fairchild Semiconductor, developed the world’s first digital (CCD) camera. He later contributed to the development of UV auroral imagers for the Swedish Viking and Freja satellites as well as the NASA IMAGE satellites, and he served as Principal Investigator for the auroral imagers on the Russian INTERBALL-2 and Canadian CASSIOPE/e-POP satellites. 

In 1989 Dr. Cogger founded the Institute for Space Research and served as Director until 2002.  During that time, he led a successful bid to form the Canadian Network for Space Research (CNSR), a National Center of Excellence that operated from 1990 to 1995. The creation and management of CNSR represented a massive administrative effort, and it made possible the recruitment and retention of an entire generation of new space researchers in Canada, many of whom are now scientific leaders – and former mentors of current leaders – in Canadian universities, government laboratories, and space industry.  Dr. Cogger also played an instrumental role in the reestablishment of the space plasma group from the National Research Council Canada at U of C in 1995. The joining of the space plasma group and the U of C imaging group led to the creation of a new type of CCD-based particle imager that has culminated in Canada’s provision of the Electric Field Instrument to ESA’s Swarm mission, and in the combination of particle and optical instrumentation technologies that underpin the CASSIOPE/e-POP satellite mission.

In the late 1990’s Dr. Cogger initiated a series of community-led space environment workshops that led to a new community vision captured in his extensive report “The Canadian Space Environment Program: Toward a Better Future”, elements of which continue to guide the trajectory of space environment research in Canada.  On the international stage, Dr. Cogger has actively and specifically cultivated scientific collaborations in developing nations throughout his career, for example through a sabbatical stay in Bulgaria, and through the donation of a tilting-filter photometer that he installed and helped to maintain outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. 

Dr. Cogger’s commitment to furthering the careers and lives of others is evident not only professionally but also in his private life: Dr. Cogger and his wife Marilyn are principals in a group of founders and benefactors of the Good Samaritan’s India/Calgary Health and Training Centre in rural India, which provides training in typing (now computing), sewing, and printing.  This group purchases sewing machines and provides training for young widows who have no other sources of income and who would otherwise be consigned to a life of abject poverty.

During the years of the INTERBALL-2 mission, when he traveled frequently to the former Soviet Union for instrument integration and testing, Dr. Cogger would often fill his suitcase with medicine acquired from pharmaceutical companies in Canada, for distribution to the local poor with the help of his friend, the late Prof. Yuri Galperin.

Dr. Cogger enjoyed wonderful collegial relations with many scientists in aeronomy and space physics around the world, including China, Japan, Russia (and the former Soviet Union), Sweden, and the United States.  His commitment to mentoring has left many an indelible mark on his students and research associates over half a century. His gentle and quiet spirit, his passion for research and in making a difference in life will be very much missed by his many friends and colleagues in Canada and abroad alike, as will his great sense of humor.     


***** SUBSCRIPTION AND ANNOUNCEMENT REQUESTS *****

The AGU Space Physics and Aeronomy (SPA) Section Newsletter is issued approximately weekly. Back issues are available at:
http://lists.igpp.ucla.edu/pipermail/spa/

To request announcements for distribution by the newsletter, please use the online submission form at:
http://goo.gl/forms/qjcm4dDr4g

To subscribe to the newsletter, please go to the web page at:
http://lists.igpp.ucla.edu/mailman/listinfo/spa
(Do not use this web page to post announcements.)

NOTE: Due to the large number of SPA-related sessions at major conferences, the SPA Newsletter can no longer accept announcement requests for individual sessions at AGU, AOGS, COSPAR, EGU, or IAGA Meetings. Titles and web links (if available) of these sessions will be distributed in a special issue of the Newsletter before the abstract deadline.

SPA Newsletter Editorial Team: Peter Chi (Editor), Guan Le (Co-Editor), Sharon Uy, Marjorie Sowmendran, and Kevin Addison

AGU SPA Web Site: https://connect.agu.org/spa/home

SPA Leadership Team E-mail: spa.leadership.team at gmail.com

*************** END OF NEWSLETTER ****************