Established in memory of Dr. Wallace Graham Breck, Sc.'50, M.Sc.'51, Ph.D. (Cantab.), brother and husband of the donors.
This Prize was established as a Memorial to Wally, to cause him to be remembered in part, as the Chair for 15 years of Undergraduate studies in Engineering Chemistry. He made a significant contribution to Queen's University and this Prize is a reminder that Dr. Wallace Breck is a person of considerable account in the history of the University.
My brother, who died in 2001 and after whom this Prize in named, was nearly six years my senior and had a considerable and positive influence on me during my formative years. When each of us had, in 1946, completed our wartime service, we applied as veterans for admission to Queen's University and were accepted.
Wally, as he was known, graduated from Queen's in 1950 from the Faculty of Applied Science in the Engineering Chemistry course and was awarded the Departmental Medal in Chemistry. He then went on to a Master's degree in 1951 on a CIL Fellowship and to Cambridge University in England on an Athlone Fellowship for his Ph.D., returning to Canada in 1954.
He taught for two years at the Royal Military College in Kingston and in 1956 became an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Queen's. He retired in 1983 at age 66 as Professor Emeritus. Wally taught many Physical Chemistry courses as well as first year general chemistry and later started a popular course in marine Chemistry. He was co-author of the text Chemistry for Science and Engineering. Wally took sabbaticals at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla, California and at the University of Queensland in Australia
