Canadian Scientists and Inventors: Biographies of People Who Made a Difference

E. Jane Philipps is head of the Biology Library at Queen’s University
in Kingston.

In a recent “R in D” column in The Globe and Mail, reporter Stephen
Strauss remarks that Canadians “simply assume that technological
revolutions are made elsewhere.” Our lack of appreciation of the
exceptional contributions to the modern world of Canadian scientists and
inventors provided the impetus for this eye-opening and educational
collection of biographies.

The 28 subjects (three of whom are women) represent an extremely
eclectic group of academics, backroom experimenters, and entrepreneurs.
Most worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, although several
modern researchers (including Roberta Bondar and John Polanyi) are
profiled. The results of their discoveries, inventions, and technologies
include the McIntosh apple and Marquis wheat, the basketball,
chiropractics, insulin, the cobalt bomb for cancer treatment, the
snowmobile, the electron microscope, printing processes, kerosene,
acetylene, and the electric streetcar.

Black, a graduate of architecture, history, and fine arts, writes about
his subjects with passion and humor, combining entertaining anecdotes
and personal details with descriptions of the science and technology and
the tenor of the times. Particularly noteworthy is the attention paid to
the many roadblocks along the way.

Well researched, though not scholarly in presentation, this book is
both an inspiring and informative resource about the origins of many
technologies we take for granted and a starting point for further
investigation. Highly recommended.