 Christy was educated at Magee High School , graduating in 1932 with the highest examination score in the province of British Columbia . He was awarded the Governor General 's Academic Medal , and , importantly in view of his family 's limited ability to pay , free tuition to attend the University of British Columbia ( UBC ) . At the award dinner he met the second place winner , Dagmar Elizabeth von Lieven , whom he dated while at UBC . He received his Bachelor of Arts ( BA ) degree in mathematics and physics with first class honors in 1935 , and his Master of Arts ( MA ) degree in 1937 , writing a thesis on " Electron attachment and negative ion formation in oxygen " . 
