In Memoriam: Leroy Cogger, Faculty of Science

The Faculty of Science is mourning the passing of Dr. Leroy L. Cogger, PhD. Cogger, a longtime professor and professor emeritus at the University of Calgary, was the founding director of the former Institute for Space Research in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He passed away on Oct. 5, 2022, at his home in Calgary, at the age of 85.

Cogger earned his doctorate at the University of Saskatchewan in 1968, where he developed optical instrumentation to study upper atmospheric airglow. Following a three-year postdoctoral position at Arecibo Observatory, Cogger joined the physics department at the University of Calgary in 1971, rising to the rank of professor in 1982. His early research centred on observations of upper atmosphere dynamics using a variety of techniques followed by working with airglow and aurora observations from Canada’s ISIS-II satellite.

In 1979, he led a team that, in conjunction with Fairchild Semiconductor, developed the world’s first digital (CCD) camera. He later contributed to the development of UV auroral imagers for the Swedish Viking and Freja satellites, as well as the NASA IMAGE satellites, and he served as principal investigator for the auroral imagers on the Russian INTERBALL-2 and Canadian CASSIOPE/e-POP satellites.

In 1989, Cogger founded the Institute for Space Research, and served as director until 2002. During that time, he led a successful bid to form the Canadian Network for Space Research (CNSR), a national centre of excellence that operated from 1990 to 1995. The creation and management of CNSR represented a massive administrative effort, and it made possible the recruitment and retention of an entire generation of new space researchers in Canada, many of whom are now scientific leaders — and former mentors of current leaders — in Canadian universities, government laboratories, and the space industry.

Cogger also played an instrumental role in the re-establishment of the space plasma group from the National Research Council Canada at UCalgary in 1995. The joining of the space plasma group and the UCalgary imaging group led to the creation of a new type of CCD-based particle imager that has culminated in Canada’s provision of the electric field instrument to ESA’s Swarm mission, and in the combination of particle and optical instrumentation technologies that underpin the CASSIOPE/e-POP satellite mission.

In the late 1990s, Cogger initiated a series of community-led space environment workshops that led to a new community vision captured in his extensive report “The Canadian Space Environment Program: Toward a Better Future,” elements of which continue to guide the trajectory of space environment research in Canada.

On the international stage, Cogger actively and specifically cultivated scientific collaborations in developing nations throughout his career (for example, through a sabbatical stay in Bulgaria) and through the donation of a tilting-filter photometer that he installed and helped to maintain outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

His commitment to furthering the careers and lives of others is evident not only professionally but also in his private life. Cogger and his wife, Marilyn, are principals in a group of founders and benefactors of the Good Samaritan’s India/Calgary Health and Training Centre in rural India, which provides training in typing (now computing), sewing, and printing. This group purchases sewing machines and provides training for young widows to develop a source of income.

Cogger enjoyed wonderful collegial relations with many scientists in aeronomy and space physics around the world, including China, Japan, Russia (and the former Soviet Union), Sweden, and the United States.

His commitment to mentoring has left many an indelible mark on his students and research associates over half a century. His gentle and quiet spirit, his passion for research and in making a difference in life will be very much missed by his many friends and colleagues in Canada and abroad alike, as will his great sense of humour.

For more on Cogger's life, please read his obituary.