John Herbert Chapman

Who was John Herbert Chapman?

John Herbert Chapman from London, Ontario, son of Lt. Col. Lloyd Chapman and Kathleen Chapman, was a Canadian space researcher. Chapman started his career with his work on radio propagation and the ionosphere. He later received a Master of Science degree and a Ph.D. in physics at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. After his studies at university Chapman got his first position in the government with the Defense Research Board. He was then promoted to the position of section leader of the ionospheric propagation unit at the Defense Research Telecommunications Establishment in 1951 at Shirley's Bay, a Canadian military and civilian telecommunication research campus.He was also a superintendent.

While at Shirley's Bay he worked on a number of projects. One of the projects he directed was the ground-breaking Canadian satellite called Alouette. The DRTE having no experience developing satellites had to work quite hard to think of and counter all the difficulties they would face in the harsh environment of space. Because of his work on Alouette he was promoted to chairman of government study group to study the upper atmosphere and space programs in Canada.