30 Scientists

Sir Sandford Fleming

Sir Sandford Fleming, FRSC, civil engineer, inventor (born 7 January 1827 in Kirkcaldy, Scotland; died 22 July 1915 in Halifax, NS). Fleming surveyed and engineered Canadian railways and was present when the “Last Spike” was driven into the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). Fleming is also widely recognized as an advocate for the adoption of internation standard time (see Time Zones and Legal Time). Fleming is credited with designing the first pictorial postage stamp, the three-penny beaver, which was issued in 1851.

Elijah McCoy

Elijah McCoy, engineer, inventor (born 2 May 1843 or 1844 in Colchester, Canada West; died 10 October 1929 in Wayne County, Michigan.) McCoy was an African Canadian mechanical engineer and inventor best known for his groundbreaking innovations in industrial lubrication. (See also Mechanical Engineering.) He filed his first patent in 1872. In 1915, he patented the graphite lubricator, designed for “superheater” locomotive engines. By the end of his career, McCoy had registered over 50 patents.

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell, inventor, scientist (born 3 March 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland; died 2 August 1922 near Baddeck,  NS). Perhaps best known as the inventor of the telephone, Bell helped develop other devices, such as the photophone. He is also recognized for his contributions to the advancement of aeronautics. Bell and his wife, Mabel Hubbard, co-founded the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA), which was responsible for the Silver Dart, the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to fly in Canada.

Maude Abbott

Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott, cardiac pathologist, physician, curator (born 18 March 1868 in St. Andrews East, QC; died 2 September 1940 in Montreal, QC). Abbott earned her MD at Bishop’s College (now called Bishop’s University) after being rejected from McGill University, which did not accept women into the faculty of medicine. Abbott would eventually return to McGill University in 1898 as assistant curator of the McGill Medical Museum. She was promoted to curator in 1901. Based on her research at the museum, Abbott published The Atlas of Congenital Cardiac Disease (1936) and helped advance knowledge of heart defects.

Irma LeVasseur

Irma LeVasseur, physician (born 20 January 1877 in Quebec City, QC; died 18 January 1964 in Quebec City, QC.) LeVasseur graduated from the School of Medicine at Minnesota’s Saint Paul University in 1900. After petitioning the National Assembly of Quebec, LeVasseur was granted permission to practice medicine in the province. During her lifetime, she co-founded two pediatric hospitals, the Hôpital Sainte-Justine in Montreal and the Hôpital de l’Enfant-Jésus in Quebec City. She is recognized as a pioneer for French Canadian women in the field of medicine.

Alice Wilson

Alice Evelyn Wilson, MBE, FRSC, geologist, paleontologist (born 26 August 1881 in Cobourg, ON; died 15 April 1964 in Ottawa, ON). Wilson began working for the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) in 1909, but faced many challenges during her professional career. Barred from conducting remote field work, she obtained permission from the GSC to undertake expeditions in the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Valley. Wilson also faced opposition when applying for leave to pursue a PhD. With a scholarship from the Canadian Federation of University Women, she pursued and earned her PhD from the University of Chicago in 1929. In 1938, Wilson became the first female fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Frère Marie-Victorin

Frère Marie-Victorin (born Conrad Kirouac), member of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, botanist, teacher (born 3 April 1885 in Kingsey Falls, QC; died 15 July 1944 in St-Hyacinthe, QC). While Frère Marie-Victorin had no formal training in botany, he became the first chair of botany at the Université de Montréal and the founder of the Institut de Botanique and the Montreal Botanical Garden (see Botanical Garden). He published Flore laurentienne in 1935, a record of plants of Quebec.

Margaret Newton

Margaret Newton, FRSC, plant pathologist (born 20 April 1887 in Montreal,  QC; died 6 April 1971 in Victoria, BC). Newton is regarded as the first woman in Canada to obtain a PhD in agricultural science (see Agricultural Education). At the Dominion Rust Research Laboratory in Winnipeg, Newton undertook research on wheat rust, a disease that can cause crop loss (see Wheat; Crop Research). She became an expert on the subject and was invited to the Soviet Union in 1933 to share her knowledge.

Wilder Penfield

Wilder Graves Penfield, OM, CC, FRS, FRSC neurosurgeon, scientist (born 26 January 1891 in Spokane, Washington; died 5 April 1976 in Montreal, QC). Penfield was the founder and director of the Montreal Neurological Institute. (See also Neuroscience.) His research advanced knowledge of the brain and epilepsy. He and his colleagues are credited with developing the “Montreal Procedure,” which allowed surgeons to operate on the brain and to identify and remove cells that caused epilepsy. (See also Canadian Contributions to Medicine.)  

Sir Frederick Banting

Sir Frederick Grant Banting, KBE, MC, FRS, FRSC, co-discoverer of  insulin, medical scientist, painter (born 14 November 1891 in Alliston, ON; died 21 February 1941 near Musgrave Harbour,  Newfoundland). In 1921, Banting began working under the direction of the University of Toronto’s J.J.R Macleod to isolate an internal secretion of the pancreas. With contributions from Macleod’s student assistant, Charles Best, and the biochemist James Betram Collip, the team announced the discovery of insulin in 1922. Banting shared the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with J.J.R. Macleod for the discovery on insulin. (See also Nobel Prizes and Canada.)

Helene Irene Battle

Helene Irene Battle, zoologist, educator (31 August 1903 in London, ON; 17 June 1994 in London, ON). Battle is regarded as a pioneer in the sciences. She is one of the first zoologists to conduct laboratory research in marine biology (see Zoology; Biology). In addition to her research and teaching, she was an advocate for women in higher education and science.

Armand Frappier

Armand Frappier, CC, physician, microbiologist (born 26 November 1904 in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, QC; died 17 December 1991 in  Montreal, QC). Armand Frappier studied tuberculosis and the BCG (bacillus Calmette-Guérin) vaccine at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. In 1938, he founded the Institut de microbiologie et d’hygiène de Montréal (renamed Institut Armand-Frappier in 1975, and later the INRS-Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie Research Centre). An advocate for vaccination against tuberculosis, Frappier helped advance medical research into infectious diseases.

Gerhard Herzberg

Gerhard Herzberg, PC, CC,  FRSC, physicist (born 25 December 1904 in Hamburg, Germany; died 3 March 1999 in Ottawa, ON). Herzberg's research specialized in molecular spectroscopy, the analysis of the spectra of molecules in order to determine their structure (see Spectroscopy; Physics). In 1971, he was the first Canadian to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for his contributions to the knowledge of electronic structure and geometry of molecules, particularly free radicals.” (See also Nobel Prizes and Canada.) 

Elsie MacGill

Elizabeth (Elsie) Muriel Gregory MacGill, OC, aeronautical engineer, feminist (born 27 March 1905 in Vancouver, BC; died 4 November 1980 in Cambridge, Massachusetts). Elsie MacGill was the first woman to earn a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering (1929) and the first female member of the Engineering Institute of Canada (1938) (see Engineering). She was dubbed the “Queen of the Hurricanes” for her work overseeing the production of Hawker Hurricane fighter planes during the Second World War. MacGill was an advocate for women in engineering and other feminist issues (see Feminism).

Helen Sawyer Hogg

Helen Battles Sawyer Hogg (née Sawyer), CC, astronomer and educator (born 1 August 1905 in Lowell, Massachusetts; died 28 January 1993 in Toronto, ON). Recognized internationally for her research on globular star clusters, Helen Sawyer Hogg advanced knowledge regarding stars and the origins and evolution of the Milky Way. In 1964, she was named the first female president of the Royal Canadian Institute. She was also the inaugural president of the Canadian Astronomical Society in 1971. (See also Astronomy.)

John Tuzo Wilson

John Tuzo Wilson, CC, OBE, FRS, FRSC, geophysicist and geologist (born 24 October 1908 in Ottawa, ON; died 15 April 1993 in Toronto). Wilson is recognized for contributing to the theory of plate tectonics. (See also John Tuzo Wilson’s Theory of Plate Tectonics). In addition to an extensive research and teaching career, he served as the director general of the Ontario Science Centre from 1974 to 1985.

Frances Kelsey

Frances Oldham Kelsey, CM, pharmacologist (born 24 July 1914 in Cobble Hill, BC; died 7 August 2015 in London, ON). Kelsey received her PhD in pharmacology in 1938 and her MD in 1950. In 1960, she started working for the Food and Drug Administration and was tasked with reviewing an application by the Merrell Company to sell thalidomide in the United States. Concerned about the drug’s safety, Kelsey withheld approval of thalidomide. Thalidomide was later found to cause severe birth defects in children whose mothers had taken the drug while pregnant. Kelsey’s involvement in the thalidomide case contributed to improved drug regulations in the United States. (See also Thalidomide in Canada.)

Moira Dunbar

Isobel Moira Dunbar, OC, FRSC, ice research scientist, public servant (born 3 February 1918 in Edinburgh, Scotland; died 22 November 1999 in Ottawa, ON). Dunbar joined the Defence Research Board in 1952. Despite her expertise, Dunbar was initially barred from participating in all-male air and sea expeditions. She eventually participated in research trips to the Canadian Arctic and conducted polar ice research. (See also Arctic Exploration.)

Bertram Neville Brockhouse

Bertram Neville Brockhouse, CC, FRS, FRSC, physicist (born 15 July 1918 in  Lethbridge, AB; died 13 October 2003 in Hamilton, ON). Brockhouse is credited with developing the triple-axis crystal spectrometer, which is used in neutron-scattering research laboratories. For his work on neutron scattering, Brockhouse earned half of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physics. (See also Nobel Prizes and Canada.)

Ursula Franklin

Ursula Martius Franklin, CC, OOnt, FRSC, physicist, educator, feminist and social activist (born 16 September 1921 in Munich, Germany; died 22 July 2016 in Toronto, Ontario). A Holocaust survivor, Franklin moved to Toronto in 1949. (See also Canada and the Holocaust.) She advanced the field of archaeometry, the study of archaeological artifacts using modern techniques of material analysis (see Archaeology). Franklin was the first woman to be named University Professor at the University of Toronto. During her career, and after retirement, Franklin advocated for women in the sciences and promoted gender equality in Canada.

Sylvia Olga Fedoruk

Sylvia Olga Fedoruk, OC, physicist, educator, 17th lieutenant-governor of  Saskatchewan (born 5 May 1927 in Canora, SK; died 26 September 2012 in Saskatoon). While at the University of Saskatchewan, Fedoruk collaborated with Harold Elford Johns and helped develop the first cobalt-60 therapy unity, which was used to treat cancer. (See also Canadian Contributions to Medicine.) In 1988, she became the first woman to be appointed lieutenant-governor of Saskatchewan. She served in this position until 1994.

John Charles Polanyi

John Charles Polanyi, CC, OOnt,  PC, FRS, FRSC, chemist, professor (born 23 January 1929 in Berlin, Germany). In 1986, Polanyi shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Dudley Herschenbach and Yan T. Lee. (See also Nobel Prizes and Canada; Chemistry.) Polanyi earned his share of the award for developing a method of mapping chemical reactions by measuring the weak infrared radiation they emit. Polanyi is also the founding chair of the Canadian Pugwash Group and has been active in advocating for peace and disarmament.

Richard E. Taylor

Richard Edward Taylor, CC, FRS, FRSC, physicist, educator (born 2 November 1929 in Medicine Hat, Alberta; died 22 February 2018 in Stanford, California). Taylor and his team conducted experiments at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre (SLAC), which allowed them to smash protons and reveal that protons are composed of smaller particles called “quarks.” Through these experiments, Taylor also identified “gluons,” which bind the quarks together. Taylor shared the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics with Jerome I. Friedman and Henry W. Kendall for their work on the quark model of particle physics. (See also Nobel Prizes and Canada.)

Michael Smith

Michael Smith, CC, OBC, FRSC, biochemist, professor (born 26 April 1932 in Blackpool, England; died 4 October 2000 in Vancouver, BC). Smith came to Canada after earning his PhD from the University of Manchester in 1956. He shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Kary B. Mullis. Smith was awarded his share of the Nobel Prize for his research on site-directed mutagenesis, a technique used in genetic engineering. (See also Nobel Prizes and Canada; Chemistry.)

Hubert Reeves

Hubert Reeves, CC, GOQ, astrophysicist, science popularizer, environmental activist (born 13 July 1932 in Montreal, QC; died 13 October 2023 in Paris, France). Reeves was a scientific advisor for NASA before moving to Paris in 1965 to work at the Centre national de recherche scientifique and the Saclay Commissariat à l’Énergie atomique. Reeves helped popularize science subjects by publishing extensively and appearing on radio and television. A committed environmentalist, he was made honorary president of the French organization Humanité et Biodiversité (see Biodiversity). (See also Environmental Movement in Canada.)

David Suzuki

David Takayoshi Suzuki, CC, OBC, geneticist, broadcaster, environmental activist (born 24 March 1936 in Vancouver, BC). David Suzuki was born to second-generation Japanese Canadians. During the Second World War, he and his family were forced into an internment camp in Slocan, British Columbia (see Internment of Japanese Canadians). Suzuki became a geneticist and one of Canada’s well-recognized scientists and media personalities. From 1979 to 2023 he hosted CBC’s The Nature of Things, the longest-running science show on television. A committed environmental activist, the David Suzuki Foundation (founded in 1990) aims to protect the natural environment through research, education and policy. (See also Environmental Movement in Canada.)

Sidney Altman

Sidney Altman, biochemist, molecular biologist, educator (born7 May 1939 in Montreal, QC; died 5 April 2022 in Rockleigh, NJ). Sidney Altman joined Yale University in 1971. While conducting research at the university, he learned that RNA (ribonucleic acid) could act as both a molecule and a biocatalyst  (see Molecular Biology). In 1989, Altman shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas Cech, who also advanced knowledge of this genetic material. (See also Nobel Prizes and Canada; Chemistry.)

David Schindler

David William Schindler, OC, FRSC, FRS, AOE, scientist, limnologist (born 3 August 1940 in Fargo, North Dakota; died 4 March 2021 in Brisco, BC). David Schindler’s research contributed to policy and the conservation of fresh water. Recognized for conducting large-scale experiments on lakes, he demonstrated how acid rain and phosphorus-rich detergents could harm fresh water. 

Roberta Bondar

Roberta Lynn Bondar, CC, OOnt,  FRSC, astronaut, neurologist, physician, educator, photographer (born 4 December 1945 in Sault Ste Marie,  ON). Roberta Bondar became the first Canadian woman and second Canadian in space when she flew aboard the American space shuttle Discovery in 1992. (See also Canadian Astronauts.) A doctor specializing in the nervous system, Bondar is a pioneer in space medicine research. In 2009, Bondar founded The Roberta Bondar Foundation, a not-for-profit that aims to educate people about environmental protection through art.

Lap-Chee Tsui

Lap-Chee Tsui, OC, OONT, FRS, FRSC, geneticist (born 21 December 1950 in Shanghai, China). In the early 1980s, Lap-Chee Tsui joined the Research Institute at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. In 1989, he made a significant contribution to the study of human genetics when he and his colleagues isolated the gene that causes cystic fibrosis. An estimated 1 in 25 Canadians carry the gene. (See also Cystic Fibrosis Canada.)