Professor Emeritus Lawrence Mysak celebrates book launch at the Faculty Club on October 1
On Thursday, October 1, the McGill Faculty Club will host a book launch and soirée for Professor Emeritus Lawrence Mysak (Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences).
Organized by the MAUT Retiree Affairs Committee, the McGill University Retirees Association, and the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, the event celebrates the recent release of Mysak's memoir, Adventures in Climate Science, Ocean Waves, and the Flute, which was published earlier this year by Springer Biographies.
From mathematics to El Niño
Born in Saskatoon in 1940 to Ukrainian parents, Mysak began his career in the Department of Mathematics at the University of British Columbia in 1967. He remained at UBC for nearly 20 years, working at the intersection of applied mathematics and oceanography to study ocean and wave dynamics.
While travelling on sabbatical during the 1982–1983 El Niño event, Mysak observed firsthand the phenomenon's warming effects and developed a deep fascination with El Niño's wide-reaching global impacts, from crops and flowers in the Middle East to salmon migration near Vancouver Island.
His deep dive into El Niño led him to drastically shift the focus of his career toward studying the 'hot topic' of climate change. In 1986, Mysak arrived at McGill University as the newly created NSERC/Atmospheric Environment Service Chair in Climate Research in what was then the Department of Meteorology.
In 1990, Mysak became the founding director of the McGill Centre for Global Change Research. He remained in the Department of Meteorology, which was renamed the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS) in 1992. One of Mysak's many PhD students at McGill was AOS's own Professor Bruno Tremblay, who joined Mysak's research group in 1992 to study Arctic sea ice dynamics.
Alongside his career as a scientist, Mysak continued to nurture his lifelong passion for music, having studied flute performance during his undergraduate years. He was an active member of McGill's I Medici di McGill Orchestra for thirty years, and in 2016 he established the Lawrence A. Mysak Prize for Woodwinds at the Schulich School of Music.
Adventures in memoir-writing
Mysak has kept himself busy since retiring from teaching in 2010. He continued supervising graduate students until 2017 and currently sits on the Selection Panel for the EWR Steacie Prize, acting as Chair for the Selection Panel since 2013.
In 2018, Mysak enrolled in a memoir-writing course at Montreal's Thomas More Institute upon the suggestion of his wife Janet, who encouraged him to write about growing up in a Ukrainian community in the Prairies so she could learn more about his early years. The course inspired him to continue writing, and over the next several years, Mysak compiled the stories that would eventually become Adventures in Climate Science, Ocean Waves, and the Flute.
In the book, Mysak traces the path of his life starting with his childhood in Saskatoon and weaving through his personal and professional history first as a mathematician, then as a climate scientist, recounting stories of travel, music, and adventures in nature along the way. Mysak said he hopes the book offers readers, particularly young people considering a career in science, a glimpse into the life and work of a scientist.
With the support of his wife Janet, retired German Studies professor Josef Schmidt (who acted as his literary critic), Faculty of Science IT Systems Administrator Ambrish Raghoonundun (who assisted him with the layout and file submission for the book), and many other friends and colleagues, Mysak published his memoir this past May with Springer Biographies.
The October 1st book launch event at the Faculty Club will open with a wine and cheese reception, followed by a presentation from Mysak and a book signing. Students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to RSVP by September 26 by filling out this form.
Another book event will also take place on Tuesday, October 20 at the Westmount Public Library. Register for free here.
Learn more about Adventures in Climate Science, Ocean Waves, and the Flute.