Omond McKillop Solandt

Omond McKillop Solandt, CC, OBE, FRSC, research director (born 2 September 1909 in Winnipeg, MB; died 12 May 1993 in Alliston, ON). Solandt was chairman of the Defence Research Board and the Science Council of Canada. (See also Defence Research.)

Career

Omond McKillop Solandt studied at the University of Toronto and began a research career in physiology under Charles Herbert Best before winning a scholarship to England for advanced training in 1939. When running a London blood bank in 1940 Solandt was asked to investigate why army tank crews were fainting in action. It turned out that when the gun fired, its gases went back into the tank rather than outside. His success led to his becoming one of the chief British army advisers on scientific methods, and he became superintendent of the British Army Operational Research Group, with the rank of colonel. (See also Canadian Army.)

In 1946 Solandt was recruited by the Canadian government to plan postwar military research, and in 1947 he became the founding chairman of the Defence Research Board (see Defence Research). He was later vice president for research and development at Canadian National Railways, 1956-63, and at De Havilland Aircraft, 1963-66; he was chancellor of the University of Toronto, 1965-71. From 1966 to 1972, Solandt was chairman of the Science Council of Canada and thus one of the most influential voices in the science policy debate of those years. His last annual report as chairman proposed the foundations of the Conserver Society movement.

In retirement, Solandt remained active as a company director and consultant, specializing in agricultural research in a number of developing countries (e.g., Peru, Kenya and Bangladesh). (See also Industrial Research and Development.)