Physics

The growth of physics was notable during this period.

The landmark event, one of the greatest discoveries in the history of physics and the greatest event in the history of Canadian physics, was the discovery of the atomic nucleus by Ernest Rutherford, Chairman of the Department of Physics at McGill University from 1898 until 1907.

Another development of monumental importance involved experiments by the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi, in the field of electromagnetic radiation and his "transmission" of radio signals across the Atlantic from a transmitter in Cornwall, England to a receiver in St. John's, Newfoundland on 12 December 1901.^[5]

J. C. McLennan, director of the physics laboratory at U of T from 1906 to 1932, undertook studies in atmospheric conductivity and cathode rays, but in 1912 was inspired by the work of Bohr, to conduct research into atomic spectroscopy. He, along with G. M. Shrum, constructed the first machine for the liquification of helium in North America, which was used for cryogenic studies of metals and solid gases. Research into colloid physics in the twenties and thirties by E. F. Burton and his students led to the construction of the first electron microscope in North America. Geophysics research was also undertaken at the U of T at this time by L. Gilchrist. At McGill, L.V. King studied mathematical physics while D.A. Keys and A.S. Eve conducted research into geophysics and J.S Marshall into atmospheric physics. McGill also established the first theoretical physics group at a Canadian university. At the University of Alberta, R.W. Boyle became the first professor of physics in 1912 and conducted research into ultrasound while F. Allen established the physics department at the University of Manitoba and bent his efforts towards the physics of physiology. At the University of Saskatchewan, E. L. Harrington was the first physics department head from 1924 to 1956, during which time that institution developed expertise in upper atmospheric research, begun by B.W. Currie in 1932. From 1935 to 1945, Gerhard Herzberg studied atomic and molecular physics there. Physics began at Queen's with the work of A. L. Clark and nuclear research was conducted there by J. A. Gray, B. W. Sargent, A. T. Stewart and others. H. L. Bronson, department head at Dalhousie, was active in physics research from 1910 to 1956.

Astronomy

The first significant Canadian astronomical facility, the Dominion Observatory, was built in Ottawa in 1905 by the federal government. It featured a refracting telescope and a reflecting solar telescope. This was followed in 1918 by the new Dominion Astrophysical Observatory near Victoria, British Columbia. The 1.88 m (72 inch) reflecting telescope there had been proposed and designed by John Plaskett in 1910 with the backing of the International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research and when it began operation was briefly the largest telescope in the world. The University of Toronto established the first astronomy department in a Canadian university in 1904 and through the efforts of department head Chant and the generosity of a private citizen, a large facility, the David Dunlap Observatory was built there in 1935.^[6]

Geology

The early 20th century was a difficult time for geology in Canada. The Geological Survey experienced funding and staffing difficulties as the pressures of the Great War placed the focus of government elsewhere. However field studies continued to emphasize the importance of mineral wealth and the survey's activities proved fruitful in spite of strained resources. In the lean Depression Years annual budgets hovered in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 1935 in an effort to stimulate the economy and create employment the budget of the Survey was dramatically increased to $1 million and field work increased tenfold. During these years the Survey made use of aircraft in its activities for the first time.^[7]

One of the great geological finds of all time was made during this period. In 1909, Charles Doolittle Walcott, discovered what came to be known as the Burgess Shale, near Field, British Columbia, a rock formation that contained the very well preserved fossil remains of animals from the Cambrian geological era.

Chemistry

The growth of the discipline continued in the new century. Departments were established in a number of universities including, chemistry and physical chemistry, at Toronto, 1900, the University of Alberta, Edmonton, 1909, Saskatchewan, 1910, a unified chemistry department at McGill, 1912, the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1915, Université de Montréal, 1920, McMaster, Hamilton, 1930, Sir George Williams College, Montreal, 1936, neurochemistry, the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, 1947 and at Bishop's University, 1948.

Graduate programmes in chemistry emphasizing original research were also introduced including: an M.Sc., McGill, 1900, Ph.D., Toronto, 1901, M.Sc., McMaster, 1909, Ph.D., McGill, 1910, M.Sc., University of Alberta, Edmonton, 1915, M.Sc., University of Saskatchewan, 1923, M.Sc., University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, 1948 and an M.Sc., at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, 1949.^[9]

Noted university chemists of the period with their date of departmental appointment, included, A.L.F. Lehmann, University of Alberta, 1909, R.D. MacLaurin, University of Saskatchewan, 1910, R.F. Ruttan, McGill, 1912, Lash Miller, Toronto, 1914, D. McIntosh, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1915, T. Thorvaldson, University of Saskatchewan, 1919, G. Baril, Université de Montréal, 1920 and C. E. Burke, McMaster, Hamilton, 1930. The discipline evolved during these years with specializations in physical chemistry and biochemistry.

The National Research Council became involved in chemistry during these years. In 1929 the Council founded the Department of Industrial Chemistry with G.S. Whitby as the Director. The Department studied the industrial production and uses of magnesium, natural gas, asbestos, wool, maple products and rubber among other things using new laboratories built on Sussex Street in Ottawa in 1932. In 1939, E.W.R. Steacie became the Director of the Division of Chemistry and led that organization through the difficult war years. He championed the independence of the Council and the importance of pure scientific research.

Biology

Biochemistry, the chemical basis for biology, developed significantly during these years. Departments were established at Toronto, 1907, The Western University of London, 1921, McGill, 1922, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, 1923, Dalhousie University, Halifax, 1923, Université de Montréal, 1925, Université Laval, Quebec City, 1928, Queen's, Kingston, 1937, University of Saskatchewan, 1946 and the University of Ottawa, 1946. The research in these departments was closely related to that of their associated biology departments.

The Experimental Farm Service grew dramatically in the early part of the new century. A large number of farms were created across the country at locations including, Summerland 1914, Vancouver 1925, Kamloops 1935, Creston 1940 and Prince George 1940, all in British Columbia, Lethbridge 1906, Lacombe 1907 and Fort Vermilion 1907, in Alberta, Rosthern 1909, Saskatoon 1917, Swift Current 1921, Regina 1931 and Melfort 1935, in Saskatchewan, Morden 1918, Winnipeg 1924 and Portage la Prairie 1944 in Manitoba, Harrow 1913, Kapuskasing 1916, Delhi 1933 and Thunder Bay 1937 in Ontario, La Pocatière 1912, Lennoxville 1914 and L'Assomption 1928, in Quebec, Fredericton 1912, New Brunswick 1912, Charlottetown 1909, PEI and Kentville, Nova Scotia 1911. The Service also established an Entomological Branch in 1914 to study the control of field crop insects, forest insects, foreign pests and stored product insects. A Science Service was created in 1937 which included divisions for bacteriology, biology and plant pathology, animal pathology, chemistry, entomology and forest biology.^[10] Of particular note was the development of Marquis wheat by researcher Charles E. Saunders during this period.

The turn of the 20th century saw the initiation of forest research in Canada with the creation of the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) in 189 and the appointment of Elihu Stewart as the first federal Chief Inspector of Timber. In the early years the Service focused on soil conservation, snow management and crop stabilization and to this end, from 1901 to 1920 distributed over 50,000,000 seedlings to prairie farmers. In the thirties, J.G. Wright conducted the first studies into controlled forest burns as a technique of forest management, an activity which generated considerable controversy at the time. W.E.D. Halliday of the Service studied forest classification and in 1937 published his landmark study, A Forest Classification for Canada. The Service conducted intensive research into pest management with noteworthy results by R.E. Balch relating to the European spruce sawfly and Douglas Embree on the control of the winter moth in Canada's eastern forests.

In 1928, the National Research Council created the Division of Biology and Agriculture. Initially working at the University of Alberta the Division moved into the new laboratory in Ottawa in 1932 and studied the biochemistry of wheat rust, gluten proteins and mutation in cereals among other things.

Medical research

Medical investigation grew dramatically in the new century. Almost immediately after Roentgen's discovery of the x-ray, was used for clinical examination in Montreal on 8 February in 1896. There were as well, investigations into sepsis at the Montreal General Hospital in 1907. J.B. Collip isolated the hormone of the parathyroid gland in 1926 and Maud Abbott of McGill studied congenital diseases of the heart. Lucas and Henderson of Toronto discovered the anesthetic properties of cyclopropane in 1929 and Norman Bethune of Montreal developed the first blood bank and battlefield transfusion techniques.

Three institutional pillars of medical research were established during these years. The Connaught Laboratories in Toronto, in 1917, the Montreal Neurological Institute in 1934 and the Institute de microbiologie de Montréal.

In 1914 John Fitzgerald established laboratories in Toronto to produce vaccines for smallpox, rabies, diphtheria and tetanus. The facility was named the Connaught laboratories in 1917 in honour of Prince Albert, the Duke of Connaught, the recently retired Governor General. Beginning in 1922 the laboratories began to mass-produce the newly discovered hormone insulin.

The discovery of insulin by Sir Frederick Banting, C. H. Best, J.J.R. MacLeod and J.B. Collip in 1921–22 in a laboratory funded from the Carnegie Corporation at the University of Toronto stands as a landmark in Canadian medical research.

With a grant of $1,000,000 from the US Rockefeller Foundation, McGill University established the Montreal Neurological Institute in 1934. In these facilities Wilder Penfield undertook research into the surgical treatment of epilepsy and scientific inquiry into the nature of the temporal lobe of the human brain.

In 1938, Armand Frappier obtained $75,000 from the government of Quebec after years of effort for the establishment of L'institute de microbiologie de Montréal an organization devoted to the teaching of microbiology, research into the field and the industrial production of vaccines. In 1941, after moving into facilities at the newly constructed Université de Montréal, the Institute began producing vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus and typhoid as well as blood plasma for the war effort.

The Hospital for Sick Children, founded in Toronto in 1875, established the Nutritional Research Laboratory in 1918. Here, in 1930, the researchers Alan Brown, Fred Tisdall, and Theo Drake invented what became known as Pablum, a pre-cooked baby cereal that has saved the lives of thousands of children. In 1934, Tisdall and Drake demonstrated the benefits of enriching milk with vitamin D. The hospital also constructed more than 30 iron lungs for children in Ontario who were the victims of the polio epidemic of 1937.^[11]

The Canadian Cancer Society, founded in 1938 to educate Canadians about the early warning signs of cancer, has become a major contributor to the funding of cancer research in Canada.

In 1936, the NRC significantly created the Associate Committee of Medical Research to fund medical research in Canada. This organization became the Division of Medical Research in 1956 and the Medical Research Council in 1960.

Physics

Atomic fusion was a significant field of study in this period. From 1987 to 1999 at Varennes, Quebec, Hydro-Québec operated a Tokamak fusion reactor. Researchers from the Institut de recherche en électricité du Québec (IREQ) and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) investigated various elements of fusion science at this facility.

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) studied the nature of the sub-atomic particle known as the neutrino from 1999 until 2006. The facility is located about 2 km underground in the former Creighton nickel mine of CVRD Inco in Sudbury, Ontario and was designed to detect solar neutrinos by sensing their interaction with deuterium nuclei and atomic electrons. Observations resulted in a major discovery, demonstrating among other things that solar neutrinos oscillate as they travel through space and therefore have mass. The facility is undergoing an upgrade that will result in SNO+ that will permit new experiments. These will involve the study of the proton proton chain reaction, geo-neutrinos (neutrinos produced by natural phenomena in the earth) and neutrinoless double beta decay.^[26] As of 2010, the facility was home to two major experiments investigating the nature of dark matter: the Project in Canada to Search for Supersymmetric Objects (PICASSO), which is attempting to find evidence for the existence of WIMPS (weakly interacting massive particles) and the Dark Matter Experiment Using Argon Pulse (DEAP). There are also plans by the US-based Cryogenic Dark Matter Search team to use the SNO facility for dark matter research.^[27]

One of the largest science projects in Canadian history, the Canadian Light Source Synchrotron at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, began operation in 2004. Covering an area the size of a football field and built at a cost of $175 million, it is operated by CLS Inc., a University of Saskatchewan not-for-profit corporation. It is used to investigate the nature of matter at very small scales.^[28] Similar in nature but smaller in scale the Advanced Laser Light Source (ALLS), was established in Quebec City at the facilities of the Institut national de recherche scientifique (University of Quebec) in 2004. The $20 million, CFI-funded international project uses a multi-beam femtosecond laser system operating in a wide range of frequencies to study the behaviour of molecules at extremely high speeds.^[29] The CFI has also provided funding for Canadian physicists to participate in research at the Spallation Neutron Source facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US. The money will permit the design and construction of Vulcan, a spallation neutron beam source, and a spectrometer, as well as a guarantee of beam time access.^[29]

Small scale physics is also the focus of the National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Alberta. Operated by the NRC, the institute was created in 2001 and moved into a state-of-the-art facility among the largest and quietest of its type in the world in 2006. It will study a wide range of nanoscale phenomena, including the synthesis of nanocrystals, nanowires and supramolecular-based nanomaterials, the fabrication of molecular-scale devices, the development of nano-scaled materials for chemical reactions at semiconductor surfaces, protein design, genetic engineering and nanoelectromechanical systems.^[30] Of particular recent note is the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, which will be in operation in 2011 conducting research related to nano-engineered materials, nano-electronics design and fabrication, nano-instrumentation and nano-biosystems. An example of one of the nanofabrication projects associated with the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology is the University of Waterloo Nano Robotics Group. The group, composed only of undergraduate students, is developing a research paper characterizing the surface tension around micro robots at a micro scale after winning first place at the 2011 Mobile Microrobotics Challenge. It was the only team composed completely of undergraduates (as well as the only Canadian team) competing.^[31]

In 2008, the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy at McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario, acquired the Titan 80–300 Cubed electron microscope. The instrument is considered the best at any university in the world by the Director of the Centre, permitting the detailed examination of individual atoms, which is useful in the field of nanotechnological research.^[32]

The University of Toronto is the most prominent member of the G13 Canadian research universities and remains one of Canada's premier physics research organizations. In 1997, the physics department celebrated the centenary of its graduate programme. In 2007, it conducted research in a wide-ranging number of fields, including planetary physics, quantum optics and condensed matter physics and subatomic physics. A number of research institutes play an important part in this activity, including the Center for Quantum Information and Quantum Control, the Institute for Optical Sciences, the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (C.I.T.A.), Photonics Research Ontario, IsoTrace, the Institute for Aerospace Studies, the Institute of Particle Physics (I.P.P.) and the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The University of British Columbia continues to play an important role in physics research. Fields of study include applied physics, atomic, molecular and optical physics, biophysics, condensed matter, medical physics, particle, subatomic and string theory and theoretical physics. Important research institutes include the Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory, the Pacific Institute of Theoretical Physics and of course TRIUMF, Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics.

TRIUMF is also Canada's centre for participation in the construction and eventual operation of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva. Canadian universities and Canadian industry have contributed components to ATLAS, one of that accelerators large particle detectors. TRIUMF also hosts a Tier 1 Computing Centre for ATLAS, one of ten in the world.^[33]

Canada's number three research university, the University of Alberta in Edmonton, maintains its strong position in physics research in Canada in 2008. Fields of study include the astrophysical sciences, condensed matter physics, geophysics and particle physics. Research institutes of note include: the Center for Nanoscale Physics, the Centre for Particle Physics (Center for Subatomic Research), the Institute for Geophysical Research, the Mitpan International Institute of Earthquake Prediction Theory, the Space Physics Laboratory and the Theoretical Physics Institute.

The reputation of physics research at McGill in Montreal continues to be strong. Fields of study include astrophysics, condensed matter physics, high energy physics, nuclear physics and nonlinear physics. Research centres of note include: the Centre for the Physics of Materials, the Centre for High Energy Physics, the Interuniversity Centre for Subatomic Physics, and the McGill Institute for Advanced Materials.

Arguably, Canada's most significant theoretical physics research organization is the newly created Perimeter Institute (PI), associated with the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario. Founded in 1999 by Mike Lazaridis, inventor of the BlackBerry, and under the leadership of Founding Executive Director Howard Burton, the 60 resident researchers have since 2001 conducted research in a number of fields, including cosmology, particle physics, quantum foundations, quantum gravity, quantum information and superstring theory.^[34] In 2008 the Institute announced the appointment of Stephen Hawking to the position of Perimeter Institute Distinguished Research Chair. Hawking, began his private research at the PI in June 2010. In 2009, the Perimeter institute made public plans for the construction of the new Stephen Hawking Centre, which will double the size of the institute.

The closely related Institute for Quantum Computing was established at the University of Waterloo in 2002 with $100 million in funding and construction of a dedicated facility was begun in June 2008. Under the direction of Michele Mosca, the Institute aims to have 30 full-time researchers, 50 post-doctoral fellows and 125 graduate students aggressively conducting research into the application of quantum mechanical techniques to information processing systems. The Institute operates a number of highly advanced laboratories including the Atom Trapping Laboratory, the Integrated Quantum Optoelectronics Laboratory, the Josephson Junctions Laboratory and the Photonic Entanglement Laboratory.

Astronomy

Cutbacks in funding hit Canada's premier astronomical research organization the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics hard. Money could not be found to resurface the Algonquin Park Radio Telescope and it along with the solar telescope near Ottawa were closed in 1986. However that same year, the HIA did establish the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC) which created special software for the archiving of astronomical date. In 1987, the HAI took a 25 percent stake in the 15-m James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (submillimetre radio) and in the nineties a 15 percent stake in the optical 8 metre Gemini Telescope, which became operational in 1999. Headquarters for the HIA moved from Ottawa to Victoria in 1995. In the 21st century, the Institute designed instruments for its international telescope programme, including the Gemini multi-object spectrograph, the JCMT auto-correlation spectrometer and imaging system and the CFHT adaptive optics bonnette. Of note is the initiation of the CFHT Legacy Survey in 2003. Using the telescope's wide field Megacam the survey consists of three studies, "Very Wide", "Wide", and "Deep", and investigates a number of phenomena including the nature of dark matter and dark energy.^[35] The University of Calgary is participating in the development of the software to be used for data acquisition and image production at the Atacama Large Millimeter Array Telescope under construction in the Atacama Desert in Chile. First light is expected in 2011.^[36]

The HAI is also the principal player in the 1998–1999 Long-Range Plan for Astronomy and has moved towards a more supportive role for Canadian university astronomy.

In 2003, the Canadian Space Agency launched Canada's first astronomical satellite, the Microvariability and Oscillations of STars telescope or MOST, developed by the Agency, Dynacon Enterprises Limited and the astronomy departments at the University of Toronto and British Columbia.

Astronomy in the new century at the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto is wide-ranging in scope and makes use of some of the world's greatest observatories. Fields of study include: cosmology, the early universe, galaxy clusters, galaxy, star and planet formation, the interstellar medium, high energy astrophysics and stellar structure and evolution. Researchers at the department have access to a number of high quality telescopes, including Gemini North and South, 8.1 m, Magellan 6.5 m, the CFHT, 3.6 m, Dupont, 2.5 m and the JCMT, sub-mm as well as other optical, radio and satellite facilities and the use of stratospheric balloons for galactic and cosmological research. In 2008, three astronomers from this university, using the Gemini North telescope, took the first direct photograph of what is likely an extrasolar planet orbiting star 1RSX J160929.1-210524, located 500 light years from earth.

Astronomy research in the 21st century is combined with the work of the physics department at the University of British Columbia. The 22 staff researchers there engage in an active programme of investigation and have access to cutting edge facilities including the CFHT and Gemini telescopes. The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory near Victoria and the two radio telescopes of the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory near Penticton are also used. Furthermore, department members have built several liquid mirror telescopes, the biggest being the 6 metre Large Zenith Telescope near Vancouver.

The Origins Institute, founded in 2004 at McMaster University by Dr Ralph Pudritz, has initially focused its research on the structure of extra solar systems but has plans to expand its endeavours to include studies relating to the origins of the universe and life.

Other Canadian universities, including Queen's, York, Calgary, the University of Alberta, the University of Victoria, Montreal, Laval and the University of Western Ontario offer graduate astronomy programmes and have their own observatories.

In 2009, the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC) at the NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (NRC-HIA) in Victoria, announced the establishment of the Canadian Advanced Network for Astronomical Research (CANFAR). This system will create an electronic bridge linking the software of Canadian astronomers with the powerful computers of the CANARIE network. The University of British Columbia and University of Victoria are major participants in the project which will enhance collaboration and productivity among Canadian researchers in astronomy.

In recent years there have been plans for the dramatic renewal of Canadian observing facilities in both the visible and radio spectrum. In the visible spectrum, running from the near-ultraviolet to the mid-infrared (0.31 to 28 μm), the Thirty Meter Telescope project calls for the construction of a telescope with a mirror an astonishing 30 metres in diameter. The telescope is the result of a partnership, established in 2003, between the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy (ACURA), the California Institute of Technology and the University of California. Funding is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, in the US as well as the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, the National Research Council of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund and Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). First light for the C$1 billion facility on Mauna Kea in Hawaii is planned for 2017. The telescope will investigate a number of cutting edge phenomena including: dark energy, dark matter and the Standard Model of particle physics, the first stars and galaxies in the Universe, reionization, galaxy assembly and evolution, planet and star formation and the possibility life on planets outside the Solar System.

Canadian universities and scientists are also participating in another international partnership for the construction of new telescope for radio astronomy. The University of Calgary is Canada's lead institution for Canadian participation in the Square Kilometer Array. Construction of the €1.5 billion telescope in the southern hemisphere, is scheduled to begin in 2013, with first light in 2017 and full operation scheduled for 2022.

Space science

During this period, Canadian space science developed a crewed component in addition to uncrewed activities. In the early eighties, the government of Canada signed an agreement with the US regarding participation by Canada in the NASA Space Shuttle programme. Canada would design, build and donate four Remote Manipulator System devices, (popularly known as the Canadarm), used to handle cargo and equipment in the bay of the shuttle when it was in orbit, in exchange for the training of a Canadian astronaut corps by NASA and the assignment of Canadian astronauts as crew members aboard Space Shuttle flights. Shuttle flights have included those by Marc Garneau, Canada's first astronaut (1984/1996/2000,) Roberta Bondar (1992), Steve MacLean (1992/2006), Chris Hadfield (1995/2001), Robert Thirsk (1996), Bjarni Tryggvason (1997), Dave Williams (1998) and Julie Payette (1999/2009). In 2009, the CSA announced the appointment of two new members of the Canadian Astronaut Corps, Jeremy Hansen and David St-Jacques. Also in 2009, Robert Thirsk undertook a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station, the first long duration flight by a Canadian astronaut. Science studies during these missions have involved investigations of human physiology including space sickness, intracorporal fluid displacements, spatial orientation and the loss of bone and muscle mass during prolonged periods of weightlessness. There have also been experiments in materials science and biology, amongst others. In September 2010, Veteran Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield was appointed commander of the International Space Station for a mission in 2012.

Canada's uncrewed programme included the first launching of the Canadian earth observation satellite RADARSAT-1 in 1995, and an improved version, RADARSAT-2, in 2007. Placed in polar orbits, each of these satellites images almost all of the Earth's surface every 24 days using a powerful synthetic aperture radar, SAR. The images have both operational and scientific applications, and their data is of use in geology, hydrology, agriculture, cartography, forestry, climatology, urbanology, environmental studies, meteorology, oceanography and other fields. In 2009, the Canadian Space Agency announced a follow-up programme, RADARSAT Constellation, which will see the launching of three Earth observation satellites in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively, working as a trio to provide complete coverage of Canada's land and ocean surfaces as well as 95% of the surface of the world every 24 hours.^[37]

The Canadian Space Agency launched the Microvariability and Oscillations of STars (MOST) astronomical and SCISAT-1, satellites in 2003. A year, later MOST observed that the star, Procyon, did not oscillate, a finding that has importance with respect to theories relating to the formation and aging of the Sun and other stars.

Canadian instruments have also flown aboard a number of international satellites. Akebono, a Japanese satellite launched in 1989 to study the Earth's magnetosphere, was equipped with the Canadian suprathermal ion mass spectrometer. In 1996, the Canadian auroral ultra-violet imager, flew aboard the Russian satellite Interball-2. FUSE, an international ultraviolet space observatory launched in 1999, has aboard the Canadian-designed and built Fine Error Sensor camera system for tracking the telescope. Canada provided the $37 million "weather station" aboard the Phoenix Mars uncrewed mission scheduled to land on that planet in 2008.

In 2008, the Agency plans to launch a hybrid satellite, Cassiope, which includes a scientific package equipped with the "enhanced polar outflow probe" that will study the ionosphere. The Agency has also coordinated Canada's contribution to the HIFI and SPIRE instruments aboard the Herschel Space Observatory and to the Low Frequency Instrument and the High Frequency Instrument aboard the Planck astronomical/cosmological satellite both launched in 2008. Finally, Canada is contributing the Fine Guidance Sensor and Tuneable Filter Imager for the James Webb Space Telescope launched in 2022.

In 2008, the Canadian Space Agency also announced plans to design and launch the Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSat) in 2010. Weighing 65 kg and about the size of a large suitcase, the satellite, which will optically search space near the earth with its 15 cm telescope for asteroids that represent a danger to the planet through collision, will be the first dedicated to this task. It will also search for and track smaller objects that could represent a lesser but nevertheless significant danger. The $12 million machine is being designed and built by the University of Calgary and Dynacon Inc. of Mississauga, Ontario. It will be placed in a Sun-synchronous polar orbit about 800 km above the Earth.^[38] In November 2008, the Agency signed a $40 million 16-month contract with MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. of Vancouver to begin the design of the RADARSAT Constellation (three satellite) mission. In the 2009 federal budget, the agency was awarded funding for the preliminary design of robotic lunar/Martian rovers.

The University of Toronto operates the Canadian Advanced Nanospace eXperiment Program. In 2009, the University of Calgary and the University of Lethbridge established the Institute for Space Imaging Science, a Canadian first.

A rather imaginative recent undertaking is one by the Mars Society, an international non-profit space advocacy organization and its Canadian branch, the Mars Society of Canada, which established the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) as part of their Mars Analogue Research Station Programme near the Haughton Meteor Impact Crater on Devon Island, Nunavut in 2002. Designed to develop procedures for an eventual crewed mission to Mars, the "crew members" inhabit a simulated Mars base and wear simulated space suits to conduct microbiological and geological studies and simulated Mars field explorations.

Geology

The Geological Survey has continued its research during this period. In 1986, the Survey merged with the Earth Physics Branch of the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources and acquired the national seismology and geomagnetic observatory networks of that organization. In the nineties, this new organization took the lead in the development of the National Geoscience Mapping Program (NATMAP) with other governments, universities and industries to optimize the use of funding for the new mapping of bedrock and surface geology of Canada. Activity in environmental studies has involved establishing norms for the geochemical profiles of naturally occurring substances and work with respect to climate change as well as hydrogeology and natural radioactivity and the risks associated with natural dangers, including earthquakes and tsunamis. The Intergovernmental Geoscience Accord, signed in 1996, clarified the role of the Survey with respect to relations with provincial and territorial governments. As the result of a reorganization, the Survey became part of the Earth Sciences division of Natural Resources Canada in the mid-nineties. In recent years, the evolution of digital electronics and the Internet has seen the Survey undertake the development of the Geoscience Knowledge Network with the aim of making geological information available online. The budget of the Survey is now about $60 million a year, and the staff of 550 are located at headquarters in Ottawa and regional offices in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, St. Foy, Quebec, Calgary, Alberta and Sidney and Vancouver, British Columbia. Present fields of study include geological hazards and environmental geoscience, marine geoscience, minerals, hydrocarbons and bedrock and surficial geoscience.^[39]

In 2008, the oldest rocks yet discovered on earth, estimated to be about 4.28 billion years old were found along the east shore of Hudson Bay in Quebec. Also in 2008, a two-year project involving seven arctic nations and led by scientist Marc St. Onge of the Geological Survey of Canada, completed a survey that mapped the geology of the polar region.^[40]

Oceanography

Because most oceanographic activity in Canada is federally funded, the cutbacks of 1985 affected scientific research in this field. For example, the Pacific Ocean research facilities of the Defence Research Board were closed. However, in spite of this, the Bedford Institute of Oceanography has maintained its status as Canada's premier oceanographic institution. Consolidation over the years has brought the oceanographic activities of four departments under the roof of the Institute, and at the present time, over 400 scientists, engineers, technicians, support staff and others conduct targeted research in a number of fields. National Defence activities support ocean surveillance through the Maritime Forces Atlantic's Route Survey Office and focus on surveys of the sea floor in areas of military interest. The Shellfish Section of Environment Canada conducts ocean water quality surveys and microbiological studies of shellfish. The Geological Survey of Canada is also present and has established itself as Canada's principal marine geoscience facility with emphasis on geophysics, geochemistry, marine and petroleum geology and the coastal/off-shore landmass. The Science Division and Canadian Hydrographic Service of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are also represented. Associated researchers study the marine climate and environment, marine and diadromous fish, shellfish, mammals and plants. The institute operates four research vessels, CCGS Matthew acquired in 1990 along with the famous CCGS Hudson (1964), CCGS Navicula (1968) and CCGS Alfred Needler (1982).^[41]

At the Maurice Lamontagne Institute established in 1987 near Mont-Joli, Quebec, on the St. Lawrence Estuary, more than 400 staff undertake research relating to the protection of the marine environment and the conservation of aquatic plants and animals.

Beginning in 2006, the federal government intensified research of the mapping of the ocean floor in the high arctic as part of a programme designed to reinforce Canada's claim to the arctic. The study of the Lomonosov Ridge has been a particular focus of attention.

The Ocean Tracking Network, headquartered at Dalhousie University in Halifax was established in 2008, with $168 million in funding provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. The project seeks to establish a worldwide animal surveillance and ocean monitoring network using acoustic sensors that will allow the tracking of tagged marine animals for up to 20 years. The information gathered will be used for marine ecological protection.^[42] In 2009, on the west coast, the NEPTUNE Program at the University of Victoria established the world's first regional cabled ocean observatory. Through the use of sensors connected to an 800 km electro-optical cable resting on the seabed of the Juan de Fuca Plate, scientists can study seismic activity, ocean-climate interactions and seafloor ecology.^[29] Canadian researchers have also made important contributions to the International Census of Marine Life, cataloguing 2636 species in the Pacific, 3160 in the Atlantic, and 3038 species in the Arctic Oceans in recent years.^[43]

Chemistry

Although there have been funding difficulties, the Group of Thirteen Canadian research universities have been engaged in cutting-edge chemistry research during this period.

Not surprisingly, the University of Toronto has a very elaborate graduate research programme with specialties in analytical chemistry, biological and organic chemistry, environmental chemistry, inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, chemical physics and polymer chemistry. The University of British Columbia has a similarly well-developed chemistry research programme in fields such as analytical chemistry, biochemistry, environmental chemistry, inorganic chemistry, material, organic chemistry, physical-theoretical chemistry and nuclear and radiochemistry.^[44]

The University of Alberta has a number of advanced laboratories supporting research in chemistry. These include the Analytical and Instrumentation Laboratory, the Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory and the X-ray Crystallography Laboratory which support, analytical chemistry, chemical biology, chemical physics, inorganic chemistry, materials and surface chemistry, nanotechnology, organic chemistry, physical chemistry and theoretical and computational chemistry.

In recent years, McGill has emphasized the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of chemical research in fields such as analytical/environmental chemistry, biological chemistry, chemical physics, materials chemistry and synthesis/catalysis.

Advanced laboratories combined with a multidisciplinary approach characterize chemistry research at the University of Waterloo. Of note is the new Waterloo Advanced Technology laboratory or WATlLab, a facility that offers researchers, microscopy and lithography, spectromicroscopy and spectroscopy and nanofabrication and materials science tools. Also available is the Waterloo Chemical Analysis Facility, which includes NMR and mass spectrometry machines. Research institutes include the Guelph-Waterloo Centre for Graduate Work in Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

The NRC continues its work in chemistry, notably at the Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences with laboratories in Ottawa (Sussex Drive) and Chalk River, Ontario.

Biology

Biology in the new century has been characterized by the rise of systems and synthetic biological research centres in universities across Canada. A recent phenomenon, systems biology, is the result of the merger of molecular and cell biology with systems and control theory and seeks to explain how the higher level characteristics of complex biological systems, including life itself, arise from the interactions among their component parts. Research results have significant implications for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

One notable center is the University of Calgary's Institute for Biocomplexity and Informatics. The Chairman of the Institute, Stuart Kauffman has contributed to the field of abiogenisis with his research into the emergence of metabolism through phenomena involving autocatalytic sets. Others centres of note in Ontario include the Department of Cellular and Systems Biology and the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research at the University of Toronto, the Centre for Computational Biology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, the Sun Centre of Excellence in Systems Biology at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute (Mount Sinai Hospital) in Toronto and the Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology (2005) at the University of Ottawa. The Biotron research facility, opened in 2008 at the University of Western Ontario, in London, will provide a unique laboratory for the study of basic biological systems at the ecological, physiological and molecular levels. In Quebec, McGill has established the Centre for Nonlinear Dynamics in Physiology and Disease. The prairie provinces are home to a number of organizations, including the Manitoba Centre for Proteomics and Systems Biology and the Centre for Mathematical Biology and the Institute for Biomolecular Design, both at the University of Alberta. The latter has initiated the 10-year Project Cyber Cell to develop the computer simulation of a living cell, in this case an E. coli bacterium, involving 40 laboratories across Canada. The Canadian Laboratories in Integrated Proteolysis have been created at the University of British Columbia. A reflection of the growth of the discipline is seen in the establishment of the Canadian Society for Systems Biology in 2006. Membership stands at 150 in 2008.^[45]

Research in cloning was undertaken during these years. In 1999, McGill University produced the world's first cloned goats. In 2001, veterinary doctor Lawrence Smith of the University of Montreal cloned three calves.

After significant cutbacks and reorganization, biological research at the National Research Council has recovered and is reflected in the activities of a number of sub-organizations, including the Institute for Biological Sciences (NRC-IBS) in Ottawa, Montreal Road and Sussex Drive Campuses, the Biotechnology Research Institute (NRC-BRI) in Montreal, Quebec, the Institute for Biodiagnostics (NRC-IBD) with facilities in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Calgary, Alberta and Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Plant Biotechnology Institute (NRC-PBI) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and the Institute for Marine Biosciences (NRC-IMB) in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Since 1985, federal research activities in the field of agriculture have continued. The 600 scientists and technicians of the Research Branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada undertake studies in a wide variety of fields at 19 research stations across Canada, including but not limited to the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre, Agassiz and Summerland.

In recent years, the Canadian Forest Service has investigated the process of tissue culture. Through a technique known as somatic embryogenesis (SE), CFS researchers have been the first to use a single cell to regenerate larch trees. The same process has also been used to culture the eastern white pine and jack pine and may lead to the development of genetically modified conifers suited to special needs such as fibre production. The Service operates six research centres across Canada, including the Pacific Forestry Centre in Victoria, British Columbia, the Northern Forestry Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, the Great Lakes Forestry Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, the Laurentien Forestry Centre in Quebec, City and the Atlantic Forestry Centre in Fredericton, New Brunswick, as well as two research forests: the Petawawa Research Forest and the Acadia Research Forest. Fields of research include biodiversity, biotechnology and bioproducts, climate change, ecology and ecosystems, entomology, pathology, silviculture and forest regeneration. The Canadian Wood Fibre Centre in Ottawa, another CFS facility, investigates industrial applications of wood fibre.

Medical research

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research, which replaced the Medical Research Council in 2000 and consist of a number of virtual institutes, fund medical research in a variety of fields including aboriginal peoples' health, aging, cancer, circulatory and respiratory health, gender and health, genetics, human development, infection, musculoskeletal health, diabetes, neuroscience, and public health. Research is conducted in cooperation with the pharmaceutical industry and medical schools across Canada.

There have been significant developments in stem cell research activity during this period. In 1997, John Dick, a molecular biologist at the University of Toronto, was the first to discover the existence of cancer stem cells. The Stem Cell Network was established in 2001 with headquarters at the University of Ottawa, and brings together more than 80 leading scientists, clinicians and engineers from Canadian universities and hospitals. Researchers study cellular therapeutics and their pharmacological applications as well as related technologies, public policy, ethical, legal and social issues with the goal of effectively treating cancer, heart and lung disease, macular degeneration, stroke, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, Parkinson's disease, muscle degeneration, hemophilia and type 1 diabetes. It is hoped that research will lead to clinical applications for these afflictions by 2015. Stem cell research is also undertaken at the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine established in 2003 in Toronto as part of the University Health Network in 2003. In 2010, the McMaster University Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute announced that it had developed a technique for transforming skin cells into multiple blood cell types. This discovery may have applications for the treatment of leukemia, for it is anticipated that a patient with the disease may be able to receive therapeutic blood transfusions derived from his or her own skin cells, thus eliminating problems related to compatibility that are associated with treatment that involves biological material from others.^[46]

The University Health Network in Toronto is also home to a number of other medical research institutes, including the Ontario Cancer Institute, the Advanced Medical Discovery Institute, the Campbell Family Cancer Research Institute, the Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research, the Toronto General Research Institute, and the Toronto Western Research Institute.^[47]

The International Regulome Consortium is a Canadian-led international initiative, begun in 2004, the aim of which is to map the functional transcriptome or the genetic circuitry of stem cells. Planned as a follow-up to the Human Genome Project, the consortium is headquartered at the University of Ottawa and led by Michel Rudniki.^[48] In 2009, Andras Nagy, a biologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, developed a practical way to transform mature human cells into the equivalent of embryonic stem cells, moving medicine one step closer to the use of these cells for the treatment of disease.^[49] Also in 2009, a team led by John Davies of the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto was the first in the world to isolate special stem cells, known as mesenchymal stem cells, and perform experiments showing that they could be used to regenerate specific types of human tissue. The cells themselves came from the umbilical cord tissue of newborn babies.^[50]

In 2008, the federal government also donated $100 million for research to the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium, a group of Canadian and US researchers, that includes Genome Canada, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, for a three-year project into the prevention and treatment of cancer.

Genomics and the closely related proteomics have become the leading fields for biological research in recent years. In 2000, the government of Canada created Genome Canada to conduct research in these fields. This organization is composed of six centres: Genome British Columbia in Vancouver, Genome Alberta in Calgary, Genome Prairie in Saskatoon and Winnipeg, the Ontario Genomics Institute in Toronto, Genome Quebec in Montreal, and Genome Atlantic in Halifax. These centres conduct genomic and proteomic research in such fields as human health, agriculture, forestry, the environment and the fisheries.^[51]

Proteomics research received a boost in 2008 when Canada's most powerful research computer an IBM supercomputer was installed in Toronto. The $20 million machine, about the size of an SUV, can make 12.5 trillion computations per second and will be used for proteomics research by the Ontario Cancer Institute, the Princess Margaret Hospital (specializing in cancer) and the University Health Network.

A new field, metabolomics, has generated much recent interest. The logical next step after genomics, which studies the plan for protein construction and proteomics, which studies the manufacture of the proteins themselves from that plan, metabolomics studies the metabolic molecules produced by those proteins in an organism. After receiving a $7.5 million grant from Genome Canada and Genome Alberta, the University of Alberta in Edmonton began the Human Metabolome Project in 2005 with the goal of identifying, quantifying and cataloguing all metabolites in human tissue and biofluids. By 2008, about 2500 metabolites of an estimated total of 2900 had been identified and catalogued. This information is of use in clinical chemistry, newborn screening, toxicology, pharmacology and transplant monitoring among other things.

Heart disease research has also grown throughout this period. One organization of note is the Canadian Heart Research Institute founded in 1996, as a not-for-profit academic research organization in Toronto, which specializes in the organization and conduct of clinical trials. In 2001, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research awarded $24.4 million for 61 projects related to cardiac research across Canada.

Cancer research in Canada was reinforced through the establishment of the privately funded Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research (The Campbell Family Institute), rated as one of the top five cancer research facilities in the world, at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto in June 2004.^[52]

Research into spinal cord injury received a boost in 2008 with the establishment of the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre at the Vancouver General Hospital. The largest facility of its type in the world, it is home to more than 300 scientists and technicians working to find ways to repair spinal cord damage.^[53]

The Public Health Agency of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario is also a significant player in health research and has a number of facilities that conduct medical research, including the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control and the Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, both in Ottawa, and the Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses in Guelph, Ontario. Of particular note is the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its level-4 biohazard containment and research facilities. In 2009, scientists at the NML were the first in the world to decode the genetic sequence for the H1N1 flu virus.

Founded in 2001 and affiliated with the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital, the Ottawa Health Research Institute has become one of Canada's most important medical research organizations. With more than 325 scientists, 300 students, 625 support staff and an annual budget of $54 million (2004–05), the institute conducts research related to a wide variety of ailments including, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease and muscular dystrophy.

With a staff of more than 600, the Robarts Research Institute was established in 1986 at the University of Western Ontario as a non-profit medical research centre. The Institute's activities target a variety of serious medical conditions including, heart disease and stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's and cancer. Research at the Institute led to the recommendation that the risk of stroke can be reduced by taking a daily dose of aspirin.

The importance of transferring scientific discovery to the business sector has continued to grow in recent years, and a number of 2007 medical "Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR)", with significant corporate funding, have been established to facilitate this task. MaRS (MaRS Discovery District), the largest in the field, located in Toronto, consists of researchers at the University of Toronto, the major hospitals in the city and two dozen other research organizations. Others medical CECRs include the Pan-Provincial Vaccine Enterprise, (Saskatoon), the Centre of Excellence in Personalized Medicine (Montreal), the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (Montreal), the Centre for Drug Research and Development, (Vancouver), the Centre for the Prevention of Epidemic Organ Failure (Vancouver), the Prostate Centre Transnational Research Initiative for Accelerated Discovery and Development (Vancouver) and the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization (Hamilton).^[54]

After a number of complex corporate changes over a period of 30 years, Connaught Laboratories emerged in 2004 as Sanofi Pasteur with modern facilities focusing on vaccine research, in Toronto. Ongoing projects include the $350 million 10-year Cancer Vaccine Programme with possible treatments for melanoma, colorectal cancer and breast cancer as well as investigations into vaccines for HIV, pneumococcal infection and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Extensive medical research programmes are also undertaken by a number of other private companies including: Pfizer Canada Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Inc., Merck Frosst Canada Ltd. (Merck & Co), Biovail Corporation, AstraZeneca Canada Inc., QLT Inc., MDS Inc., Vasogen Inc., Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc., Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Neurochem Inc.

In 2008, the Biovail Corporation announced plans to invest $600 million over a five-year period to develop drugs for the treatment of neurological conditions such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease.

Canadian Blood Services, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1998 after a reorganization of the Canadian Red Cross, manages the supply of Canada's medical blood and blood products and ensures the highest standards for Canadian transfusion medical research and development.

International cooperation in medical research has become important technique in dealing with the understanding of severe diseases such as cancer. Starting in 2008, Canada, through the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research in Toronto, will lead the International Cancer Genome Consortium, a research project involving nine other countries, that will hunt for the genetic mutations that are the basis for 50 types of cancer. The Canadian contribution includes the investigation of the genetic basis for pancreatic cancer as well and the computer storage and manipulation of the data for the project.

The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada announced in 2009 the establishment of a network of five research centres, one each in the five regions of Canada. The centres, each with links to regional teaching hospitals and universities, will search for a cure for that disease.^[55]

The Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, established in Toronto in 1987, conducts studies related to finding a cure for this disease.

A unique development relating mostly to the field of medical and biological research is the creation by the City of Toronto of the Discovery District, in recognition of the high geographical concentration of research facilities in these fields, in the area bounded by Bloor Street in the north, Bay Street in the east, Dundas Street in the south and Spadina Avenue in the west. The 2.5 kilometer square district is home to one of the largest concentrations of research institutions in the world, including Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Bio-Molecular Research, the new Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, MaRS, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital, St. Michael's Hospital, Sunnybrook Research Institute, SickKids – The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, University Health Network (UHN) Research, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the University of Toronto, the Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Women's College Hospital, Toronto Metropolitan University and York University.

Cognitive science

Certain types of problems and phenomena are so complex that they are not easily studied or understood through the lens of one scientific discipline. A combination of disciplines or multidisciplinary approach is more helpful in such cases. Cognitive science, which attempts to explain the nature the human mind, including consciousness, cognition and intelligence, arguably the most intractable phenomena in science, has inspired a number of such multidisciplinary research efforts.

The Institute for Cognitive Science, the first of its type in Canada, established in 2006 at Carleton University in Ottawa, draws on the fields of psychology, philosophy, linguistics and computer science to conduct research into cognition. Other universities, including U of T, McGill, University of Calgary, UBC (the Institute for Computing, Information, and Cognitive Systems), Queen's and York use a similar interdisciplinary approach to study cognition.^[56]

Artificial intelligence has become an important field of study, and the computer science departments of all G-13 universities conduct research in this field. The Artificial Intelligence Research Group at the University of Waterloo investigates machine learning and reasoning under uncertainty, robotics, multi-agent systems, natural language understanding, computational vision and models of intelligent interaction. The University of Toronto is active in the fields of computational linguistics and natural language processing, knowledge representation and cognitive robotics, computational vision, and machine learning and neural networks. Of note is the research of Geoffrey Hinton regarding Boltzmann machines. Using the research of Hinton, Yoshua Bengio of the University of Montreal and others are attempting to create a mathematical model of consciousness.^[57]

The private sector is also involved in AI research. The Canadian Society for Computational Studies of Intelligence, established in 1987 and renamed the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Association in 2008, represents commercial businesses, including Acquired Intelligence Inc. of Victoria, B.C., AND Corporation and OAK Systems Development Corporation, both of Toronto and Applied AI Systems Inc. of Ottawa, which also approach the concept of intelligence from a computational perspective.

Since the 1980s, researcher Michael Persinger, at Laurentien University in Sudbury, Ontario, has conducted controversial experiments into the electromagnetic stimulation of an individual's temporal lobes. He claims that such stimulation induces a "religious" experience.

NeuroScience Canada, founded in 1990, funds multidisciplinary neurological research for the study of neurological disorders such as chronic pain, cognitive impairment and neurotrauma. In 2008, Bruce McNaughton was the first to receive the $20 million Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, Polaris Award. He will undertake studies in the field of computational neuroscience at the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge.^[58]

All G-13 universities have departments of philosophy with doctorate level staff members conducting research related to the philosophy of the mind. The work of Paul R. Thagard at the University of Waterloo, with respect to cognitive functions and coherence, is of note. Charles Taylor of McGill University in Montreal has studied consciousness within the context of European Hegelianism. Zenon Pylyshyn, a psychologist and computer scientist at the University of Western Ontario from 1964 to 1994, has made significant contributions to cognitive science. Other Canadian-born and educated cognitive scientists have made their mark in the US including David Kirsh, John Robert Anderson, Keith Holyoak and Steven Pinker.

Founded in 1991 at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies represents a novel approach to research in Canada. Modelled after the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in the US, the Institute uses the multidisciplinary technique to conduct research related to problems in the fields of science, social science and the humanities. The current director, Dianne Newell, is a professor of history.