Famous Canadian Chemists

Vote for Your Favourite Canadian Chemists

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 1 
Louis Slotin
(Canadian Physicist and Chemist Who Took Part in the Manhattan Project)
Louis Slotin
7
Birthdate: December 1, 1910
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Winnipeg, Canada
Died: May 30, 1946
While showing his colleagues how to work on a plutonium bomb, Canadian scientist Louis Slotin was exposed to a lethal radioactive dose that first caused him to vomit and then die 9 days later. He had, however, reportedly shielded his colleagues from maximum exposure, thus saving their lives.
 2 
Rudolph A. Marcus
4
Birthdate: July 21, 1923
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Montreal, Canada

Rudolph A. Marcus redefined science with his Marcus theory, which explained electron transfer reactions and thus threw light on reactions such as photosynthesis. The Canadian-American chemist won a Nobel Prize for his work and also contributed to the transition-state theory. He now teaches at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

 3 
John Polanyi
(Canadian Chemist and Winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry)
John Polanyi
2
Birthdate: January 23, 1929
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany

John Charles Polanyi is a Hungarian-Canadian scientist, who won the Noble Prize in Chemistry for his contribution to the dynamics of chemical reaction. He developed a technique called infrared chemiluminescence, which helped him to study the exchange of chemical bonds and detail how the excess energy is removed during chemical reactions.

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 4 
Gerhard Herzberg
(Physical Chemist, Physicist)
Gerhard Herzberg
2
Birthdate: December 25, 1904
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Hamburg, Imperial Germany
Died: March 3, 1999

German-Canadian physicist Gerhard Herzberg is remembered for his Nobel Prize-winning work on ascertaining the electronic structure of molecules, particularly free radicals. He had escaped to Canada following the rise of the Nazis and later also worked in the U.S. His doctoral students included Japanese chemist Takeshi Oka.

 5 
Maud Menten
(Canadian Physician and Chemist Best Known for Her Work on 'Enzyme Kinetics')
Maud Menten
3
Birthdate: March 20, 1879
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Port Lambton, Canada
Died: July 17, 1960

Maud Menten was a Canadian bio-medical and medical researcher. She made several important contributions to enzyme kinetics and histochemistry. She studied medicine at the University of Toronto, becoming among the first women in Canada to earn a medical doctorate. She collaborated with Leonor Michaelis to come up with the Michaelis-Menten equation model.

 6 
Henry Taube
(Chemist)
Henry Taube
2
Birthdate: November 30, 1915
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Neudorf, Saskatchewan, Canada
Died: November 16, 2005

Nobel Prize-winning Canadian-American chemist Henry Taube is best remembered for his research on electron-transfer reactions. Apart from teaching at reputed institutes such as Cornell and Stanford, Taube also became a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was also an ardent fan of classical music and loved gardening, too.

 7 
Ronald Gillespie
(British Chemist Who Specialized in the Field of Molecular Geometry)
Ronald Gillespie
0
Birthdate: August 21, 1924
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
Died: February 26, 2021

Ronald Gillespie was a British chemist who specialized in the field of molecular geometry. Gillespie, who moved to Canada in 1958, is credited with instituting inorganic chemistry education in Canada. Ronald Gillespie was the recipient of several prestigious awards and honors, such as the Keith Laidler Award, the Henry Marshall Tory Medal, and the Canadian Centennial Medal.

 8 
William Giauque
(Canadian-American Chemist)
William Giauque
1
Birthdate: May 12, 1895
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Niagara Falls, Canada
Died: March 28, 1982
Initially aspiring to be an electrical engineer, William Giauque later deviated to chemical engineering and then shifted further to research.The Nobel Prize-winning Canadian-American physical chemist is best remembered for his research on the behavior of matter in extremely low temperatures. His studies validated the third law of thermodynamics.