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Create AccountJohn Stanley Plaskett, astronomer (b at Hickson, UC 17 Nov 1865; d at Esquimalt, BC 17 Oct 1941). Born on a farm, Plaskett joined the Edison Co in Schenectady, New York, and Sherbrooke, Québec.
Joseph Algernon Pearce, astrophysicist (b at Brantford, Ont 7 Feb 1893; d at Victoria, BC 8 Sept 1988). Together with J.S.
Carlyle Smith Beals, astronomer (b at Canso, NS 29 June 1899; d at Ottawa 2 July 1979). Astronomer and assistant director of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, BC, until 1946, Beals was Dominion Astronomer in Ottawa until his retirement in 1964.
His work was at all times characterized by the application of imagination and experimental skill backed by theoretical rigour to the solution of major problems, largely related to cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Mario Bunge, (b at Buenos Aires, 1919). After training as a physicist (doctorate in mathematical physics, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 1952), Mario Bunge turned toward philosophy, which he taught at the U. of Buenos Aires from 1957 to 1963.
Gerhard Herzberg, physicist, Nobel laureate (born 25 December 1904 in Hamburg, Germany; died 3 March 1999 in Ottawa, ON).
Boris Peter Stoicheff, physics professor (b at Bitola, Yugoslavia 1 June 1924). A specialist in spectroscopy, laser physics and nonlinear optics, he is known for his innovative use of lasers. After receiving a PhD from U of T in 1950 he joined the National Research Council of Canada in 1951.
Howard Turner Barnes, physicist (b at Woburn, Mass 21 July 1873; d at Burlington, Vt 4 Oct 1950). Graduating from McGill in 1893 in applied sciences, he was initiated into research work by his physics professor Hugh L. Callendar, an authority in electrical precision measurements.
When he came to McGill in 1898 as Macdonald Professor of Physics, Rutherford had begun studying radioactivity at Cambridge and his work at the Macdonald Physics Building, then one of the best equipped laboratories anywhere, was subsidized by William MACDONALD himself.
Gordon Merritt Shrum, OC, OBE, physicist (born 14 January 1896 in Smithville, ON; died 20 June 1985 in Vancouver, BC).
Derek York, geophysics professor, science writer (b at Normanton, Yorkshire, Eng 12 Aug 1936; d at Toronto, 9 Aug 2007). A leader in the field of potassium-argon dating of rock, Derek York was a foreign principal investigator for NASA during the Apollo missions to the moon.
Victoria Michelle (Vicky) Kaspi, CC, FRSC, FRS, astrophysicist (born 30 June 1967 in Austin, Texas). Kaspi is best known for her studies of collapsed stars such as neutron stars and pulsars. In 2016, she became the first woman to win the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal, the country’s top science prize awarded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.
John Richard (Dick) Bond, OC, OOnt, FRS, FRSC, cosmologist (born 15 May 1950 in Toronto, ON). Bond is known for his work in astrophysics and cosmology, especially for his investigations of the early universe. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada has described him as “a Godfather of Canada’s now vibrant internationally recognized theoretical cosmology community.”
Although Alexander Graham Bell is most famously credited as the inventor of the telephone, he also coached what was arguably the world’s most advanced aviation team of the early 20th century.
Arthur Edwin Covington, scientist, astronomer (born at Regina 21 Sept 1913; died at Kingston, Ont, 17 Mar 2001). He earned a BSc and MSc in physics from UBC and completed his doctoral degree and post-graduate studies in nuclear physics at the University of California at Berkeley.
This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on March 15, 1999. Partner content is not updated.
In his life and work, Gerhard Herzberg defied easy categorization. Herzberg, who died last week at 94 after a long career at Ottawa's National Research Council, won the 1971 Nobel Prize for chemistry even though he was a physicist.André Joseph Cipriani, biophysicist, avid sportsman, bon vivant (b at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad 2 Apr 1908; d at Deep River, Ont 23 Feb 1956).
Donald Allan Ramsay, CM, FRSC, FRS, physicist (born 11 July 1922 in London, England; died 25 October 2007 in Ottawa, ON).
Joseph Alexander Gray, physicist (b at Melbourne, Australia 7 Feb 1884; d at London, Eng 5 Mar 1966). After graduating from Melbourne U in 1907, Gray worked in Sir Ernest RUTHERFORD's laboratory in Manchester, Eng, concentrating on the study of the interaction of electrons and X-rays with atoms.
Louis Verschelden. Baritone, physician, b Ste-Thérèse-de-Blainville (Ste-Thérèse), near Montreal, 11 Jan 1881, d Montreal 18 Mar 1948. He was educated at the Séminaire de Ste-Thérèse, where he was organist while taking lessons in solfège and piano.
