Dr. Richard H. Tomlinson

Dr. Richard H. Tomlinson (1924-2018) was a distinguished alumni of McGill. He graduated from McGill with a PhD in Chemistry in 1948 under the supervision of Otto Maass and joined the Department of Chemistry at McMaster University, where he served as Chair and Professor Emeritus. He was the founding Director of Gennum Corporation, which became a major manufacturer of microchips for digital signal processing as well as the world’s largest supplier of microchips for hearing aids.

In 2000, he created an exceptional series of recruitment student awards with the aim of giving the finest young minds the opportunity to study at McGill University. The Dr. Richard H. Tomlinson Fellowship program aims to attract high-caliber students to McGill. The fellowships are worth $35,00 per year for up to 3 years, making this one of the most prestigious fellowship programs in Canada and a significant contribution to recruiting and supporting exceptional graduate students at McGill.

To honour Dr. Richard H. Tomlinson's generous contribution, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies holds an annual event called "The Tomlinson Talks" where Tomlinson Scholars have the opportunity to showcase the exceptional graduate research they are doing at McGill with the support of the Tomlinson fellowship. The first of this multidisciplinary lecture series was held in November 2002.

To learn more about this extraordinary man and the impact of his very important contribution to his alma mater, please read the following articles:

• "McGill benefactor Richard H. Tomlinson made history" McGill Reporter, February 5, 2018
• "The Tomlinson Project in University Level Science Education" Faculty of Science website.