NSERC Prizes
NSERC John C. Polanyi Award
Winners
| Name | Title and/or institution | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Douglas Stephan | University of Toronto Department of Chemistry |
2019 |
| Michael Organ | University of Ottawa Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences |
2018 |
| Sylvain Moineau | Université Laval Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Bioinformatics |
2017 |
| Barbara Sherwood Lollar | University of Toronto Department of Earth Sciences |
2016 |
| Dr. Chris Eliasmith | University of Waterloo Canada Research Chair in Theoretical Neuroscience and Director, Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience |
2015 |
| NSERC's cycle of competitions, evaluations, and awards for the NSERC John C. Polanyi Award span two calendar years. We have in the past referred to the cycle starting in 2013, for example, as the "2013 Polanyi Award" even though it was announced and awarded in 2014. As of 2015, we have attributed the prize to the year in which it is announced, not the year in which the competition was launched. Therefore, there was no 2014 Polanyi Award. The winner of the competition launched in the spring of 2014 (Dr. Chris Eliasmith) received the 2015 Polanyi Award. | 2014 | |
| ALPHA-Canada Team | 2013 | |
| Greg Scholes | University of Toronto Chemistry |
2012 |
| Brendan Frey | University of Toronto Engineering |
2011 |
| Benjamin Blencowe | University of Toronto Medicine |
2011 |
| Victoria M. Kaspi | McGill University Astrophysics |
2010 |
| Christian Marois | Astrophysics National Research Council |
2009 |
| David Lafrenière | Astrophysics Université de Montréal |
2009 |
| René Doyon | Astrophysics Université de Montréal |
2009 |
| Philip Jessop | Chemistry Queen's University |
2008 |
| André Bandrauk | Chemistry Université de Sherbrooke |
2007 |
| Paul Corkum | Physics University of Ottawa and National Research Council |
2007 |
The Sudbury Neutrino ObservatoryScientists have spent years puzzling over the apparent gap between the number of neutrinos thought to be generated in the core of the sun and the number detected on earth. Either something was profoundly wrong with our model of fusion reactions in the sun, or many of the elusive subatomic particles that are considered the basic building blocks of the universe somehow disappeared en route. After painstakingly designing and building the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO), a Canadian-led team finally confirmed in 2002 that neutrinos escape detection because they spontaneously change their "flavour," or type, after leaving the sun. The results confirmed not only that the models of energy generation in the sun are correct, but that the most basic laws of physics are incomplete. The discovery provided revolutionary insight into the fundamental nature of matter and was one of the top scientific breakthroughs of the year. SNO sits in a mineshaft two kilometres underground. The massive rock shield overhead and the cleanliness of the laboratory makes for what is considered the world's lowest-radioactivity experimental location. The SNO detector is built around 1,000 tonnes of heavy water in an acrylic vessel. As neutrinos pass through the water, they produce flashes of light called Cherenkov radiation, which are detected by an array of 9,600 photomultiplier tubes. Members of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Team
Dr. Alain Bellerive, Carleton University |
||
