- Jim Parr
James Gordon (Jim) Parr (1928-2000) was an academic, broadcaster and provincial civil servant in the province of
Ontario ,Canada .Donn Downey, "Jim Parr:CBC Radio fans recall his show on metallurgy In addition to career as an academic and public servant, he wrote poetry and satire", "Globe and Mail", April 8, 2000]Parr was an engineer by training specializing in
metallurgy and he once hosted a programme onCBC Radio called "The Mad Metallurgist" aimed at popularizing the discipline. He also wrote several books on the subject including "The Engineer's Guide to Steel"; "Man, Metals and Modern Magic" and "An Introduction to Stainless Steel".He earned his B.Sc. degree in metallurgy from the
University of Leeds and worked as a mining engineer before enrolling at theUniversity of Liverpool to study hisdoctorate . He lectured there before coming to Canada to work forInco in Sudbury. He returned to Canada in 1953 to work for the British Columbia Research Council and also lectured at theUniversity of British Columbia .In 1955, he went to the
University of Alberta to accept an appointment as an associate professor and then full professor. He moved toWindsor, Ontario in 1964 to become dean of the faculty of applied science at theUniversity of Windsor .After serving as president of the
Ontario Committee on University Affairs , Parr was appointeddeputy minister of Colleges and Universities - a civil service position for the provincial government.In 1979, he was appointed chairman of
TVOntario during which time he unsuccessfully sought a license for the network from theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a national children's channel. In 1985 he was appointed director-general of theOntario Science Centre for a three-year term.References
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