Canadian Science: Canadians

Governor-General David Johnston Dept: As an immigrant, I have to agree that Canadians indeed tend to be overly modest about their achievements, and certainly you cannot catch fish without your fly in the water, as we fly-fishermen like to say. However, it is worth considering what is required for a scientist to be recognized in the form of a major scientific award, according to Globe and Mail. I worry that a deadline of 2017 to double the number of major awards given to Canadians is unrealistic, and that failure will be seen by government as yet another reason to cut funding to science. I think the problem runs deeper than the number of nominations for prizes. Rather, we should also be thinking about how best to support the science that will lead to international recognition 10 or 20 years from now and nonetheless, Governor-General David Johnston and Professor Howard Alper argue in a recent article in The that Canadians are not sufficiently appreciated on the international stage, and that this situation could be rectified by increasing the volume of nominations for awards, with a view to doubling the number of Canadian recipients by 2017. This is a laudable goal, which is to be applauded it is a welcome moment when the Governor-General concerns himself with the excellence of Canadian science. The essential ingredient, of course, is to do a piece of transformational science, which is distinct from simply doing excellent work. Such a feat usually entails a degree of luck, but also deep and ongoing funding, and often takes a long time to fully gain acceptance. A gap of 20 years or more between the work being done and its general recognition as uniquely important is quite common. Even the nomination process takes time. The Kyoto Prize committee, for example, takes some four years to do the background research to decide that an individual is truly worthy of selection. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.