Inventors and Innovators | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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  • Article

    George Klein

    George Johnn Klein, design engineer (b at Hamilton, Ont 15 Aug 1904; d at Ottawa 4 Nov 1992). Possibly the most productive inventor in Canada in the 20th century, he spanned in his career the "stick and string" era of aviation to the Space Shuttle. Klein worked 1929-69 at the National Research Council and as a consultant after retirement. He designed the NRC's first wind tunnels and undertook research on fitting skis to aircraft, which led in turn to designing the Weasel army snowmobile (mass-produced in the US as the M-29) and ultimately to studying the mechanics of snow, on which he became an authority. Gearing systems were a lifelong specialty.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/b85104f6-bd3a-4f68-9776-1e86b31985a6.jpg George Klein
  • Article

    Georges Boucher de Boucherville

    Pierre-Georges-Prévost Boucher de Boucherville, soldier and Governor Prévost's aide-de-camp, writer and inventor (b at Québec City 21 October 1814, d at St-Laurent [Île d'Orléans] 6 September 1894), first child of Pierre Boucher de Boucherville, seigneur.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/324b67e2-519a-455e-b113-579e6babd6a1.jpg Georges Boucher de Boucherville
  • Article

    Guglielmo Marconi

    Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, electrical engineer, inventor and businessman (born 25 April 1874 in Bologna, Italy; died 20 July 1937 in Rome, Italy). Marconi’s early experiments in wireless telegraphy demonstrated the potential of long-range radio communication. He is generally considered the inventor of the radio. Marconi’s first reputed reception of a transatlantic radio signal occurred at Signal Hill in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in 1901. The following year, he built a wireless transmission station in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. Half of the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics went to Marconi for his work in wireless telegraphy. Click here for definitions of key terms used in this article.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/GuglielmoMarconi/Marconi_1901.jpg Guglielmo Marconi
  • Article

    Henri J. Breault

    Henri Joseph Breault, medical doctor, anti-poisoning advocate (born 4 March 1909 in Tecumseh, ON; died 5 September 1983 in Exeter, ON). Breault is known for spearheading a national campaign to prevent accidental childhood poisonings. He advocated for the development of the Palm-N-Turn, a safety cap that drastically reduced child deaths due to poisoning in Canada and around the world.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/HenriJBreault/hbreaultcmhf-1.jpg Henri J. Breault
  • Article

    Hugh Le Caine

    Hugh Le Caine, physicist, designer of electronic-music instruments, composer (b at Port Arthur [Thunder Bay], Ont 27 May 1914; d at Ottawa 3 July 1977). He was trained as a physicist at Queen's and later at Birmingham University (Eng).

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Hugh Le Caine
  • Article

    Hugh Le Caine

    Le Caine, Hugh. Physicist, composer, b Port Arthur (Thunder Bay), Ont, 27 May 1914, d Ottawa 3 Jul 1977; M SC (Queen's) 1939, PH D (Birmingham) 1952, honorary D MUS (McGill) 1971, honorary LLD (Toronto) 1973, honorary D MUS (Queen's) 1974.

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Hugh Le Caine
  • Collection

    Invention and Innovation in Canada

    This collection gathers together articles relating to invention and innovation in Canada. (photograph by Beth A. Robertson, courtesy Canadian Science and Technology Museum)

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  • Article

    Inventors and Innovations

                             Innovation is the successful application in a real economic or social context of something new that may or may not be an invention.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/e32bd7a5-aabe-46f9-be86-66e773d2c314.jpg Inventors and Innovations
  • Article

    Joseph-Armand Bombardier

    Joseph-Armand Bombardier, entrepreneur, inventor of the snowmobile and Ski-Doo (born 16 April 1907 in Valcourt, QC; died 18 February 1964 in Sherbrooke, QC). While Bombardier’s many inventions demonstrate his mechanical skills, his ability not only to respond to transportation needs but to create them gave rise to his namesake corporation’s record of innovation (see Bombardier Inc.).

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/75604e26-c578-4028-bf78-8e27cfd12092.jpg Joseph-Armand Bombardier
  • Article

    Norman Bethune

    Henry Norman Bethune, surgeon, inventor, political activist (born 4 March 1890 in Gravenhurst, ON; died 12 November 1939 in Huang Shiko, China). Norman Bethune was an innovative thoracic surgeon who made significant contributions in the field, including the invention or redesign of surgical instruments. He was also an early advocate of universal health care in Canada. A member of the Communist Party, Bethune volunteered during the Spanish Civil War, where he pioneered the mobile blood transfusion unit. In 1938, he travelled to China, where he became a battlefield surgeon for Chinese Communist forces under Mao Zedong. Bethune’s commitment to the welfare of soldiers and civilians during the Sino-Japanese War made him a hero in the People's Republic of China.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/be16f328-b927-4ffa-a8bb-9c68cbb7e31a.jpg Norman Bethune
  • Editorial

    Norman Bethune: Greatest Canadian?

    The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/67fdeb87-08d1-4b70-999e-83e48cc7f838.jpg Norman Bethune: Greatest Canadian?
  • Article

    Olivia Poole

    Susan Olivia Davis Poole, inventor (born 18 April 1889 in Devils Lake, North Dakota; died 10 October 1975 in Ganges, BC). Olivia Poole was raised on the Ojibwe White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. There, she was inspired by the traditional practice of using a bouncing cradleboard to soothe babies. In 1957, she patented her invention of the baby jumper, under the name Jolly Jumper, making her one of the first Indigenous women in Canada to patent and profit from an invention.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/Poole 1.jfif Olivia Poole
  • Article

    Reginald Fessenden

    Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, electrical engineer (born 6 October 1866 in East Bolton, Canada East; died 22 July 1932 in Hamilton, Bermuda). Fessenden was a pioneer in the field of radio communication. He made the first voice transmission over radio waves. He also laid the foundations of amplitude modulation (AM) and achieved the first two-way radiotelegraphic communication across the Atlantic Ocean. His 1906 transmission of a Christmas concert is considered the first radio broadcast in history. (See also Radio Programming)

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/reginald_fessenden.jpg Reginald Fessenden
  • Editorial

    The Invention of the Robertson Screwdriver

    The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 The Invention of the Robertson Screwdriver
  • Article

    Roland Galarneau

    Roland Galarneau, CM, machinist and inventor (born 16 February 1922 in Hull, Quebec; died 22 May 2011 in Hull). In the late 1960s, Galarneau invented the Converto-Braille, a computerized printer capable of transcribing text into Braille at 100 words per minute. This was a landmark innovation for people with visual impairments, as it increased their access to textbooks and other written information. Galarneau developed faster versions of the Converto-Braille in the 1970s. The company he founded eventually adapted the machine into software for IBM computers in the 1980s. This software was a precursor of the Braille software used today.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/RolandGalarneau/Roland_Galarneau.jpg Roland Galarneau