Back in 1918, the first national conference for chemistry in Canada took place in Ottawa, with about 200 attendees. This May, the 100th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition will be a celebration of chemistry’s contributions to Canadian society and the impact of Canadian scientists on the field. Over 3000 abstracts have been received, a record.
Everyone will also be celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday on the 1st of July. Canada’s economy thrives because of chemical technologies related to resources, but Canadian chemistry discoveries have contributed to society and scientific knowledge in many other ways as well, such as the discovery of insulin, Rutherford’s explanation of radioactivity, Bartlett’s demonstration of the reactivity of noble gases, Herzberg’s study of radicals, Polanyi’s contribution to chemical kinetics, and Smith’s development of site-directed mutagenesis.
“Over the last 100 years, Canadian chemistry innovators have contributed to the myriad of products and services that underpin our quality of life,” says Dr. Rui Resendes, President of the Canadian Society for Chemistry. “We are part of a global community of ‘thinkers and tinkerers’ who through collaboration, innovation and perseverance will usher in the next generations of technologies that will enhance quality of life around the world while ensuring a sustainable future.”
In honour of these two anniversaries, we offer a special virtual issue of new research articles from Canadian chemists.* Authors from across the country, from Vancouver to Halifax, have contributed more than fifty articles on topics ranging from organic solar cells to microcoil NMR spectroscopy for microfluidics. We invite you to read through these articles to see what’s happening in Canada in this year of double celebrations.
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| Philip Jessop | Jennifer Love | Warren Piers | Doug Stephan | Andrei Yudin |
| Queen’s University | University of British Columbia | University of Calgary | University of Toronto | University of Toronto |
*All of these articles are freely available online until 18 June 2017.
