Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame announces 2004 inductees

Ottawa, ON – February 16, 2004 – Three Canadian scientists, Helen Sawyer-Hogg, Raymond Urgel Lemieux and Sir John William Dawson, are being inducted into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame on May 20, 2004.

Housed at the Canada Science and Technology Museum, the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame is a permanent exhibition that honours individuals whose outstanding scientific or technological achievements have had long-term implications for Canadians.

Helen Sawyer-Hogg (1905-1993) took thousands of photographs of globular clusters to search for and study variable stars. She devoted herself to the popularization of astronomy by teaching elementary astronomy for non-science students and by writing a column that appeared in the Toronto Star for over 30 years.

Raymond Urgel Lemieux (1920-2000) brought the field of carbohydrate chemistry into the mainstream of organic chemistry and revealed how carbohydrates bind to proteins, a phenomenon crucial to everything from immunology to cancer.

Sir John William Dawson (1820-1899) was a geologist and educator of international reputation. Whenever we study fossils of plants we are building on his discoveries. Dawson was the first president of the Royal Society of Canada and the only person to have served as president of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS).

There are currently 31 Canadian scientists and innovators recognized in the Hall of Fame, including Maude Abbot, Wilder Penfield, Sir Sandford Fleming and Joseph Armand Bombardier.