Great Maritime Achievers in Science and Technology

Richard Wilbur is author of The Rise of French New Brunswick and H.H.
Stevens, 1878–1973, and co-author of Silver Harvest: The Fundy
Weirmen’s Story. His latest book is Horse-Drawn Carriages and Sleighs:
Elegant Vehicles from New England and New Bruns

Great Maritime Achievers in Science and Technology pays tribute to some
of the region’s past luminaries, notably from the 19th century. Any
Maritimer worth his or her salt will first check on how well his or her
native province fared in this somewhat arbitrary selection. Considering
that both the editor and chair of the selection committee were New
Brunswickers, it is not surprising that this province provided 15 of the
achievers, compared to nine for Nova Scotia and a mere two for Prince
Edward Island. Those familiar with the region’s history will recognize
and probably agree with most of the choices: Abraham Gesner, the
inventor of kerosene, leads the list, while considerable space is
devoted to such other figures as telephone inventor Alexander Graham
Bell; William Dawson (principal of McGill University) and his son George
(assistant director of the Geological Survey of Canada), who did so much
to expand our knowledge of Canadian geology (George predicted the Yukon
gold rush); and W.F. Ganong, the New Brunswick–born botanist,
cartographer, and geographer whose scholarship is still a valued source
of modern research. There are even three women among the list: Grace
Annie Lockhart, the first female in the British Commonwealth to receive
a university degree; Georgina Pope, daughter of a Father of
Confederation, who was largely responsible for the founding of the
Canadian Army Nursing Service; and Margaret MacDonald, a nursing
colleague of Pope’s who was awarded the rare Florence Nightingale
Medal for her services in World War I.

The concept for this collection originated with the directors of
Science East, “New Brunswick’s hands-on-science centre in
Fredericton,” established to honour New Brunswickers who had made
outstanding contributions to science and technology. The idea was
expanded to include other Maritime provinces and this volume was
completed to complement the touring exhibition.