Head and shoulders image of Dr. Steward S. Basterfield, Department of Chemistry, 1914-1930.

Bio/Historical Note: Dr. Steward S. Basterfield was born on 22 October 1884 in Halesowen, West Midlands, England. He studied at the universities of Birmingham and London, where he received his BSc in 1908. Dr. Basterfield came to Canada in 1913. The following year he was appointed instructor in chemistry at the University of Saskatchewan. After receiving his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1920, Dr. Basterfield was made professor of Organic Chemistry at the U of S and remained there for twenty years. In 1940 he was appointed dean of Regina College, retiring in 1950. His research work at the University of Saskatchewan was published in a score of scientific papers. Dr. Basterfield's interests extended to the other sciences and, further still, to the history of the sciences and to their relation to such other studies as history, philosophy and religion. At the time of his 1954 death in Moncton, New Brunswick at age 59, Dr. Basterfield was on a lecture tour through the Maritimes for the Chemical Institute of Canada. “Stewart” Basterfield appears on his headstone.