Dr. Leon Katz, honourary Doctor of Laws degree recipient, speaking from podium during Convocation held at Centennial Auditorium.

Bio/Historical Note: Dr. Leon Katz was born in 1910 in Lutsk (then part of the Russian Empire; after World War I part of Poland), He emigrated to Canada in 1920 and was reunited with his father who emigrated in 1914. During these early years Dr. Katz studied at Toronto Central Technical School to become an electrician; however, through an exchange program with Queens University, he was able to transfer into a science program working part-time to afford tuition. Dr. Katz completed his undergraduate and MSc degrees at Queen’s University, and received a PhD from the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Katz specialized in Accelerator Physics, RF Systems and, in later life, Chaos Theory. After working for Westinghouse Electric Company on radar equipment for aircraft, in Pittsburgh, in 1946 Dr. Katz moved to Saskatoon to become an associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan. In collaboration with Drs. Haslam and Johns he was part of the team that was successful in bring a Betatron to the University of Saskatchewan. It was used as the first radiation therapy facility in the province and also for research. Dr. Katz was the founding Director of the Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory from 1964-1975 that eventually led to the formation of the Canadian Light Source. He received an honourary Doctor of Laws degree from the U of S in 1990. Dr. Katz died in Saskatoon in 2004 at age 94.