ars East meets West at the under-construction Berlin Wall that once divided the German city. Photo credit: Corey Hatch
In science, the Space Race stole 1961 headlines. The year kicked off with Ham the Chimp rocketing into space in a test-run for America’s plans to put the first human into orbit. But the Russians got there first when Yuri Gagarin orbited the world for 108 minutes in April—closely followed by U.S. astronaut Alan Shepard a month later. More quietly, important scientific innovations were underway at the University. In 1961, Raymond Lemieux, ’43 BSc, ’91 DSc (Honorary), returned to his alma mater as a professor and researcher. He’d previously pioneered the synthesis of sucrose with George Huber and now developed synthetic versions of oligosaccharides, the sugar that coats red blood cells. His discoveries led to many important medical applications, including improved treatments for leukemia and hemophilia as well as the development of new antibiotics, blood reagents and anti-rejection drugs for organ transplants. Today, Lemieux is considered the pioneer of modern carbohydrate chemistry and the U of A’s Gunning/Lemieux Chemistry Centre is named after him and Harry Gunning,
’83DSc (Honorary), the “father” of the chemistry department. In politics, Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas, ’76 LLD (Honorary), planted the seeds of what would become Canada’s publicly funded national health care system when his Co-operative Commonwealth Federation passed the Saskatchewan Medical Care Insurance Act. The same year Douglas stepped aside as premier to head the newly formed national New Democratic Party, which, in 2011, became the official opposition for the first time in its history. Appropriately enough, as the U of A grads of 1961 began their life journey into a world of change, the man who would later make history as the first black president of the United States was born (as was the man who made hockey history, Wayne Gretzky, ’00 LLD). Fifty years after the civil rights movement began and the freedom riders rode buses into the segregated south, Barack Obama was elected on a campaign slogan of hope and change. Because, in the end, hope is all we have and change is all we will ever know.
1961
U of A in 1961
Tuition/Fees/Full-Time
Enrolment
TWO TERMS, FIVE COURSES
Students begin planning for a new SUB which opens in 1967.
The Golden Bears hockey team wins the Hardy Cup.
$29.50 GENERAL FEES $250 INSTRUCTIONAL FEES
A first offence fine of $25 is imposed for any student caught operating an unregistered vehicle on campus.
$279.50 TOTAL
10,394
TOTAL STUDENTS
7,916 FULL-TIME STUDENTS 644 FULL-TIME GRADUATE STUDENTS 1,484 PART-TIME STUDENTS 348 SPECIAL STUDENTS 2 PART-TIME GRADUATE STUDENTS
The World in 1961
3 billion
On the airwaves
ESTIMATED WORLD POPULATION
John Diefenbaker CANADA’S PRIME MINISTER
Fidel Castro declares Cuba is to adopt communism and bans free elections.
John F. Kennedy
Niagara Falls starts producing hydroelectric power.
AMERICA’S PRESIDENT
President Kennedy asks Congress for $531 million to put a man on the moon.
Walter Johns U OF A PRESIDENT
Peter Hyndman, ’62 BCom & Alex McCalla, ’61 BSc ’63 MA STUDENT UNION PRESIDENTS
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) starts.
Beatles first appearance at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England.
The Chicago Blackhawks defeat the Detroit Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup.
On screen
On TV
Perry Mason Bonanza My Three Sons Candid Camera The Twilight Zone
Breakfast at Tiffany’s The Guns of Navarone West Side Story Judgment at Nuremberg A Raisin in the Sun
“Little Sister” Elvis Presley “Runaway” Del Shannon “Where the Boys Are” Connie Francis “Travelin’ Man” Ricky Nelson “Spanish Harlem” Ben E. King
newtrail autumn 2011
29