Browse "Inventors and Innovators"

 Abraham Gesner, geologist, author, chemist, inventor (b near Cornwallis, NS 2 May 1797; d at Halifax, NS 29 Apr 1864). Gesner invented kerosene oil and, because of his patents for distilling bituminous material, was a founder of the modern Petroleum Industry.

Alexander Graham Bell, teacher of the deaf, inventor, scientist (born 3 March 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland; died 2 August 1922 near Baddeck, NS). Alexander Graham Bell is generally considered second only to Thomas Alva Edison among 19th- and 20th-century inventors. Although he is best known as the inventor of the first practical telephone, he also did innovative work in other fields, including aeronautics, hydrofoils and wireless communication (the “photophone”). Moreover, Bell himself considered his work with the deaf to be his most important contribution. Born in Scotland, he emigrated to Canada in 1870 with his parents. Bell married American Mabel Hubbard in 1877 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1882. From the mid-1880s, he and his family spent their summers near Baddeck on Cape Breton Island, where they built a large home, Beinn Bhreagh. From then on, Bell divided his time and his research between the United States and Canada. He died and was buried at Baddeck in 1922.

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.

August(e) Liessens. Organist, composer, bandmaster, choir conductor, teacher, inventor, b Ninove, near Brussels, 17 Aug 1894, naturalized Canadian 1953, d Sorel, Que, 8 Jul 1954. Liessens was blind from infancy. In 1901 he entered the Institut royal pour les aveugles at Woluwe-St-Lambert, Belgium.

Charles Fenerty, inventor (b at Upper Sackville, NS Jan 1821; d at Lower Sackville 10 June 1892). Concerned about the difficulty a local paper mill was having in obtaining an adequate supply of rags to make quality paper, Fenerty

Cluny Macpherson, doctor, inventor, businessman, justice of the peace (b at St John's Mar 1879; d there 16 Nov 1966).

Donald Frank Stedman, scientist (b at Tunbridge Wells, Eng 4 Apr 1900; d at Ottawa 2 May 1967). Primarily a chemist, he was one of the earliest staffers of the NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (1930).

Donna Theo Strickland, CC, physicist (born 27 May 1959 in Guelph, ON). Donna Strickland is a pioneering physicist, known for her work on ultrafast lasers. She is currently a professor of physics at the University of Waterloo. She has authored more than 90 publications and has made seminal contributions to the field of laser technology. In 2018, Strickland was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work on the development of laser technology.

His alternating-current radio tube, perfected in 1925, revolutionized the home radio-receiver industry throughout the world.

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.

Eric William Leaver, inventor, electronics engineer (born 11 August 1915 in Langham, England; died 12 February 2004 in London, Ontario).

Francis Arthur Sutton, "One-Arm," engineer, inventor, adventurer (b at Hylands, Eng 14 Feb 1884; d at Hong Kong 22 Oct 1944). As a young engineer Sutton built railways in Argentina and in Mexico prior to WWI.

Frank Arthur Forward, engineer, educator, inventor (b at Ottawa 9 Mar 1902; d at Vancouver 6 Aug 1972). Known internationally for his metallurgical-process discoveries, Forward was also a prominent educator and science administrator.

Frank Morse Robb, inventor, designer, business executive (born 28 January 1902 in Belleville, ON; died 5 August 1992 in Belleville). Frank Morse Robb was one of the first inventors in the world to succeed in developing an electronic organ, the Robb Wave Organ, in 1927.

Frederick Walker Baldwin, "Casey," aviator, inventor (b at Toronto 2 Jan 1882; d at Beinn Bhreagh, NS 7 Aug 1948). He completed engineering studies at University of Toronto in 1906. In 1907 he became a founding member