Persoon

Skinner, Orville Ray

1927-1988

Orville Ray Skinner was born in Oshawa, Ontario on 25 October 1927. He received a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto in 1950, and continued with postgraduate work at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, earning an MSc. in mathematics and Ph.D. in physics, in June and September of 1952 respectively. He taught briefly at the University of New York and worked at the National Research Council in Ottawa prior to joining the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan in 1954 as a Postdoctoral Fellow. He was appointed Assistant Professor in 1956 and by 1968, had risen to the rank of Full Professor. Dr. Skinner's special fields of research were gravitation and relativity. He published many articles and wrote two standard texts, "Mechanics" and "Relativity." Perhaps his greatest contribution to the University and Physics was his outstanding ability as a teacher. He was recognized by the U of S in 1987 with the Master Teacher Award. Dr. Skinner died on 2 December 1988.