NWU & U_Des 2018

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A change of leadership, but not heart… Prof Fika Janse van Rensburg, who is retiring at the end of the year, hands the baton to Prof Daryl Balia who will succeed him as deputy vice-chancellor on the campus in Potchefstroom in January 2019.

EDITORIAL

CONTENTS

It is 6 June 1977 and a special day for the young Leon Joubert. After all, it’s not every day that you celebrate your 25th birthday in Antarctica…

Please write and tell us where you are in the world and how your careers are progressing, or just write about anything that is close to your heart.

Email your letters to nelia.engelbrecht@nwu.ac.za, fax them to 086 614 3222 or mail them to Nelia Engelbrecht, Corporate Communication, North-West University, Private Bag X1290,

Potchefstroom, 2520.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU!

Trust breaks the ice

Dear fellow alumni

It was my privilege to do some research on cosmic rays for Prof Pieter Stoker in Antarctica 41 years ago. I relieved Prof Marius Potgieter, who had been in Antarctica the year before.

Last year we had our 40-year reunion in Gansbaai. Of the 16 team members, three have since passed away. Of the remaining 13, there were 11 of us who attended the reunion together with our spouses. Three travelled from Canada, the USA and Belgium to be there, and the two who could not attend currently live in New Zealand and the USA.

I had the privilege of enjoying many other experiences, but nothing compares to this Antarctica expedition! With the help of the NWU’s alumni office I made contact with Prof Stoker. I would like to share the contents of my email to him:

There has always been something that I would have liked to tell you should our paths ever cross again:

At the time I had only completed Physics I when you chose me to go to Antarctica. A while before we departed (during my training at the Physics Department) I asked how you could risk sending someone like me (with only Physics I) to SANAE for this important research. Your answer was: “Because trust breeds trust. And I trust you.”

I cannot tell you how much that meant to me. It has carried me throughout my life!

Those words, coming from you, blessed me.

Kind regards,

Leon Joubert

Gansbaai

The NWU & U

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Leon Joubert and his fellow students were part of the 18th South African Antarctic expedition from January 1977 to February 1978. At the top left, the ship breaks through the pack ice, and below left, the ship docks in a natural harbour to unload its cargo. On the photo on the right, provisions are being unloaded for transport to the SANAE base. At the bottom right, the relief team returns home after 14 months.

An unforgettable and possibly the most terrifying day – four of the researchers were lost in a snow storm. They were on foot, about 16 km from their base, and the temperature was a bone-chilling -34 degrees Celsius. After 13 exhausting hours in the snow storm, the “snowmen” were safely back at their base. They are, from left, William Davis, Charles Whitcomb, Gordon Hardman and Leon.

David le Roux (left) and Leon Joubert, when they were in Antarctica 40 years ago.

And so the years march on … Here is a recent photo of Leon Joubert (left) and David le Roux. Leon let us know that David, who kept the team together all these years, died a few weeks ago.

Here Leon is with the neutron monitor used at the SANAE base for their research on cosmic rays. At that stage, the base was already buried 13 metres below the surface of the ice.

This photo of the team was taken just before they returned to South Africa. Our letter writer, Leon Joubert (middle row, second from right), says that as far as he knows, all the people who have done research on cosmic rays in Antarctica were postgraduate students who had studied physics or engineering at the former Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education.

Forty years later and thousands of kilometres from Antarctica, the research team came together in Gansbaai. In front, from the left, are Hein Goldschagg, William Davis and David le Roux. In the middle are Fred Pohl, Leon Joubert and Gerrit Myburgh. In the back row are Dick Raavè, Gordon Hardman, Robin Pitman, Warren Rosewall and Geoff Evans. The two open chairs represent the two team members, Hennie van Deventer and Charlie Whitcomb, who currently live in New Zealand and in the USA respectively.

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Trust breaks the ice

Dear fellow alumni

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