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Gerald Vincent Bull, scientist (b at North Bay, Ont 9 Mar 1928; d at Brussels, Belg 22 Mar 1990). Orphaned at 3, Bull displayed scientific brilliance early and earned a PhD in aerodynamics at only 23. He worked for the Defence Research Board at Valcartier, near Québec City, 1950-64, specializing in the development of guns to shoot instrument packages into the upper atmosphere and beyond. (In the early years of space technology, rockets were both unreliable and too expensive for most countries to develop.)
Bull's High Altitude Research Project (HARP) was transferred from the DRB to McGill in 1964. Bull installed a giant 16-inch (407 mm) cannon (made of US naval guns fastened end to end) on Barbados and developed production workshops near Atwater, Québec. When Canadian and US government support ended, he formed the Space Research Corp in 1971 to continue HARP, funded by offering scientific services to countries unable to afford national space programs and by selling the products of SRC's special workshops. These products extended to shells for 155 mm artillery. (Bull had earlier designed a cannon shell shape that offered significant advantages over conventional designs.) In 1980 Bull was convicted in US courts of exporting munitions to the Republic of South Africa, contrary to the UN arms embargo, and was sentenced to 6 months in prison. SRC was declared bankrupt and liquidated. After his release in 1981 he moved to Europe, where he re-established the company as a consulting firm. At the time of his death he was working on long-range artillery which would give Iraq the capability of delivering fire into Israel. He was gunned down at his apartment.
 Bull, GeraldGerald Bull developed a means to launch satellites with artillery (artwork by Irma Coucill).
Author
DONALD J.C. PHILLIPSON
Links to Other Sites
Dr. Gerald Bull
CBC video clips profile the life of Dr. Gerald Bull, a Canadian who designed arms for some of the world's harshest regimes.
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