About two years ago I posted the following:
 
I am planning to write a new book called "Great Canadian Scientists."
Please forward your nominations to me: shell@cs.sfu.ca
 
The rules are that the person must be a Canadian citizen. They don't have
to be born in Canada or even live in Canada, but they must have (or have
had, if they are dead) Canadian citizenship while they are/were great
Canadian scientists.
 
About 70 people have been nominated already and they are listed at the
end of this posting.
 
I'm not quite sure what should constitute greatness, and there may be a
gray area here. If you have any ideas on criteria for greatness, I would be
pleased to hear them. In any event, please nominate people even if you are
not sure they are great. I would like as big a list as possible.
 
Please give me a name and email address, phone number or mail address, so
that I can contact the person. If you don't know any of the above, then
give me their last known whereabouts. Also please give your reason for why
you think the person should be considered a great Canadian scientist.
 
After I have the list, I will choose about six of the most interesting ones
and do in-depth biographies of those individuals in the style of Tracy
Kidder's "Soul of a New Machine" or some other dramatic technique.
The rest of the great Canadian scientists will appear in an appedix with 
one paragraph biographies.
 
If you have any other ideas about this project, I am interested to hear
them.
 
So far, I have received 68 nominations as follows:
 
 
First Name     Last Name      Nominator            Famous For
----------     ---------      ---------            ----------
Sid            Altman         Kuszewski, John      Catalytic RNA(Nobel Chem 89)
Frederick      Banting        me                   Insulin (Nobel U23 medicine)
Davidson       Black          Stanley, Robert      Discovered Peking Man
James R.       Bolton         Warden, Joseph       chemistry?
Raoul          Bott           Smith, Steven        Math: algebraic topology.
Willard        Boyle          Chamm, Craig         Co inventor of CCD
Gerard         Bull           Stanley, Robert      Ballistics and gunnery
Dennis         Chitty         Galindo-Leal, Carlos First animal ecologist
Brian C.       Conway         Tellefsen, Karen     Electrochemistry
Stephen        Cook           Mendelzon, Alberto   NP-completeness, complexity
?              Copp           Kuch, Gerald         biochem aspects of physiol
H.S.M.         Coxeter        Calkin, Neil J.      Regular polytopes (math)
P. N.          Daykin         Palmer, Bill         Chem, mosquito repellant
H. E.          Duckworth      anonymous            Mass Spectroscopy,  admin
Jack           Edmonds        Snoeyink, Jack       Math, Operations research
Reginald       Fessenden      Johnsen, Hans        Wire insulation, light bulb
Ursula         Franklin       McKellin, William    Physics archeol. materials
J. A.          Gray           Gray, Tom            Nuclear physics, The Gray
E. W.          Guptill        Chamm, Craig         Slotted array radar
Donald         Hebb           Lyons, Michael       Learning (Hebbian synapses)
Gerhard        Herzberg       me                   Optical spectr Nobel 71
James          Hillier        me                   Electron Microscope (Can/Am)
Crawford S.    Holling        Galindo-Leal, Carlos Ecology, predators and prey
David          Hubel          Lyons, Michael       Visual cortex (Nobel med ?)
Kenneth        Iverson        Dare, Gary           Invented APL
J. D.          Jackson        Austern, Matt        Elementary Particle Theory
Andre          Joyal          Pananagden, Prakash  Category theory, categ Logic
Martin         Kamen          me                   Carbon-14 (Canadian/Amer.)
Irving         Kaplansky      Knighten, Bob        Algebra, functional analysis
George S.      Kell           Kell, Dave           Hot water freezing
T. E.          Kellogg        Palmer, Bill         Chem, mosquito repellant
Geraldine      Kenney-Wallace Siegman, Anthony     Chemistry ? Administration
Brian          Kernaghan      Brader, Mark         C programming language
Michael L.     Klein          Marchi, Massimo      Theoretical Chemistry
Charles J.     Krebs          Galindo-Leal, Carlos Ecology, Krebs effect
K. J.          Laidler        Tellefsen, Karen     Chemical Kinetics
G. C.          Laurence       Palmer, Bill         Physics ????
Raymond        Lemieux        Smith, Earl          First synthesized glucose
Martin         Levine         Meunier, Robert      Computer vision
Edward S.      Lowry          himself              Computer programming
Pere           Marie-Victorin Meunier, Robert      Jardin Botanique de Montreal
Colin          MacLeod        Turner, Steven       Nobel (?) DNA discovery?
Marshall       McLuhan        Clamen, Stewart      Social sci, communications
Ben            Morrison       Willson, David       Aurora Borealis
Lawrence       Morley         Strome, Murray       Plate Tektonics/Remote sense
Farley         Mowat          Abbott, John         Northern Animal rights?
Kevin          Ogilvie        Kendrick, Kelly      Genetics, cure for herpes?
Sir William    Osler          Lyons, Michael       Medicine
P.J.E.         Peebles        Vishniac, Ethan      Most important cosmologist
Wilder         Penfield       Perri, Marie         Anatomical basis for memory
John           Polanyi        me                   chemiluminescensce Nobel86
Denis          Poussart       Meunier, Robert      Computer Vision
Anatol         Rapoport       Lloyd-Jones, David   conflict theory, game theory
Howard         Rapson         Sutherland, Russell  Pulp chemistry
Hans           Selye          Goel, Anil K.        Psychology of stress.
William        Stephenson     Wilkins, Darin       WW2 Enigma code, Wire photo
Boris          Stoicheff      Siegman, Anthony     Raman Spectroscopy
David          Suzuki         Meister, Darren      Science communication
Henry          Taube          Parker, Wiley        Physical Chemistry Nobel83
Richard        Taylor         Manuel, John         Verified Quark model Nobel90
David          Thompson       Eisler, Michael      Mapped western Canada
Endel          Tulving        Green, Christopher   Psychology of memory
Bill           Tutte          Royle, Gordon        matroid theory (math)
I              Uchida         Palmer, Bill         Down's syndrome
J. Tuzo        Wilson         Collier, John        Continental Drift theory
R. H.          Wright         Palmer, Bill         Chem, mosquito repellant
J.L.(Allen)    Yen            Leone, Pasquale      VL baseline interferometry
Walter         Zinn           me                   Breader Reactor (Can/Amer.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
The list is growing nicely. It's amazing to see just how much was discovered
by Canadians. Actually there are many more who were born in Canada, but
became Americans after graduate school.
 
Please note: a lot of people have nominated Alexander Graham Bell but I
feel he was really a Scottish/American with a summer home in Canada. Now
I know this is debatable, but please don't nominate him again.
 
If anyone can fill in some of the question marks on the list, please drop
me a line.
==================================================
 
That was two years ago. Since then, I have received a grant from Science
Culture Canada, a division of Supply and Services Canada to research the
book. Since my old posting the book has evolved into an educational book
for kids aged 9 - 14 (though this may change again) It will have about
40 two-page spreads with a large graphic in the middle and text/graphic
boxes all around on the following subjects: Vital statistics and photo of
the scientist, Personal statement from the scientist, Narrative of a few
moments in the life of the scientist, "What I was doing when I was 12",
So you want to be a <insert kind of scientist>, Experiment you can do. There 
will be an appendix with 100 - 200 more scientists with one paragraph
biographies who didn't quite make it to the double spreads. The whole thing
will then be published on CD-ROM with video and sound clips for added
richness. I am looking for a CD-ROM publisher as well. The text part may
also be available on the CANARIE electronic highway being developed in
Canada as well.
 
I am still looking for a publisher though Penguin Canada came close 
to being it. Hope to find one soon. 
 
I would like to again ask for more nominations, especially in the
pure sciences of Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Also criticisms of 
the list are welcomed. Also women and French-Canadian scientists are needed.
 
I hope this posting will get others to nominate more Great Canadian
Scientists, and to discuss what is "great" what is "Canadian" and what is
"scientist".
 
Please respond to:
shell@sfu.ca
 
or
Barry Shell   604-876-5790
 
4692 Quebec St. Vancouver, B.C.  V5V 3M1 Canada