Fred Cooperstock Scholarship
Professor Fred Cooperstock (1940-2018) received a BSc from the University of Manitoba and a Ph.D. from Brown University. As a graduate student, he attended the Cornell Summer School where he had the opportunity to discuss research with the then-young Stephen Hawking. After a fellowship at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, he joined the Department of Physics at the University of Victoria in 1967. Professor Cooperstock mentored many graduate students over the years, often continuing to collaborate with them after they had moved to other universities. His research varied, but focused on General Relativity, a subject on which he authored two books and numerous research publications.
He was a passionate devotee of Einstein, with enthusiasm that grew during his sabbatical year at the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology. There, he worked with Professor Nathan Rosen, who had worked with Einstein. Rosen would occasionally muse, “I wonder - what would Einstein have said?”
Fred Cooperstock’s life centered around three passions: family, physics and badminton, with dark chocolate a close contender for third place. His many other interests included photography, travel, chess and classical music. He was fondly known by his students—and his family -- for his humour and colourful sayings.
This scholarship is meant to honour the memory of Professor Cooperstock, a devotee of physics research, with a long and strong connection both to UVic and to Israel. It is hoped that the scholarship will provide budding young researchers with an opportunity to benefit from interaction with the vibrant scientific community in Israel, and further promote ties between UVic and Israeli academic institutions.