Tag Archives: Canada Science and Technology Museum

Lasers and Paul Corkum

Leave a reply

The Canada Science and Technology Museum is going to be featuring a public talk by Paul Corkum (mentioned in my May 13, 2009 posting and my March 17, 2009 posting) about the past, the present, and the future for lasers. Titled, Catching Electrons with Light; Celebrating the past, present, and future of the laser in Canada, the event will be held on Jan. 20, 2011 at 7 pm. From the Museum’s event page,

Presentation by Dr. Paul Corkum, University of Ottawa and National Research Council of Canada

Laser technology, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010, is undergoing a revolution. Extremely short laser pulses are providing a powerful new tool in the study of the smallest structures on Earth. The laser’s incredible speed is making it possible to “photograph” electrons, bonds breaking, or atoms rearranging themselves within molecules during a chemical reaction – the very essence of chemistry.

Dr. Paul Corkum of the University of Ottawa and the National Research Council of Canada will discuss recent advances in laser technology. Before the lecture, examine lasers from the Museum’s collection, as well as the National Research Council’s first laser, a recent major acquisition for the Museum. Dr. Alex Szabo of the NRC will be present to share how he and Dr. Boris Stoicheff developed the first Canadian laser in January 1961.

Admission is free. RSVP by January 19, 2011. rsvp@technomuses.ca

I’m glad to hear of this interesting event. I wish they’d webcast these things. It doesn’t have to be livestreamed; all they have to do is video the event and post it online afterwards so those of who don’t live in Ottawa can have access. Perhaps even that is just too expensive?

Canada’s 2010 National Science and Technology Week

2 Replies

Canada’s annual National Science and Technology Week is coming up shortly. This year it’s scheduled for Oct. 15 – 24, 2010 (which is really 10 days and not one week but I don’t think anyone except me cares about that). You can check here for events taking places in various provinces, including BC.

I almost missed mentioning it  this year as I haven’t seen any publicity or been sent any information about it. Maybe the promotional budget was cut?

Thanks heavens for the National Film Board and their October 2010 newsletter,

Ottawa: Screenings, animation workshops and new related exhibition at the Science and Technology Museum

Ottawa’s Science and Technology Museum is organizing a series of events for history and film buffs this month. On the weekend of October 16-17, the Museum will screen the documentary Passage, by John Walker, to coincide with the opening of its newest exhibition, “Echoes in the Ice: History, Mystery, and Frozen Corpses.”

That same weekend, the Museum will offer stop-motion animation workshops led by NFB facilitators. From storyboard to building plasticine characters, participants will learn how to animate their own stories frame by frame. $5 per person, spaces limited.

I checked out the Canada Science and Technology Museum website and found out that some of these events seem to be part of the National Science and Technology (NST) week. My proof is that the timing is right and there’s a video about the NST week on the Passage page I’ve linked to previously.

I also came across some interesting news about the museum recently on the Canadian Science Policy Centre website. Apparently the museum is trying to find a new home (from the CBC news item found on the Canadian Science Policy Centre site),

Canada’s forlorn science-and-technology museum has ordered yet another study to help it find a new home after being stuck for more than 40 years in a suburban industrial park in Ottawa.

The museum corporation advertised Monday for a $175,000 study — the fourth in the last seven years — to make a business case for the move and to “suggest a path forward.”

Every other national museum or gallery in the Ottawa area has snagged posh new digs over the last quarter century: the National Art Gallery, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Canadian War Museum and the National Aviation Museum.

Even the Canadian Museum of Nature, the latest recipient of federal largesse, re-opened this year after a multimillion-dollar makeover of its century-old structure.

The Canada Science and Technology Museum, on the other hand, has seen its grand vision of a new home dashed several times. The latest was an $800-million blueprint vetoed by the incoming Conservative government in 2006.

Apparently, they’d like to be in a new place by 2017 for Canada’s 150th anniversary.