They Don't Call It"TheGoldenHorseshoe"for Nuthin'!

Hi....

Did you know that a Nobel Prize winner and two Astronauts hailed from the Niagara Peninsula?

Two of them lived in the Village of Ancaster and the third in Milton!

Dr. Bertram N. Brockhouse:

http://media.cns-snc.ca/history/pioneers/b_brockhouse/bbrockhouse.html

"Dr. Bertram Brockhouse, (1918-2003), who lived in Ancaster, Ontario, won the Nobel Prize in Physics 1994.Dr. Bertram Brockhouse (1918-2003) was a Canadian physicist who conducted pioneering research into neutron spectroscopy and neutron scattering techniques. Initially based at the National Reactor Universal (NRU) in Chalk River, Ontario, Dr. Brockhouse moved to McMaster University in 1962, where he held a professorship in the Department in Physics until his retirement in 1982. During these years, Dr. Brockhouse continued to conduct original research, designing and building new spectrometers at MNR and supervising numerous graduate students. Dr. Brockhouse’s research achievements were recognized both nationally and internationally during his career as he was the recipient of several awards, most notably the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1994, which he shared with Clifford G. Shull. Dr. Brockhouse was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1982 and passed away in Hamilton, Ontario in 2003. His memory lives on today at McMaster University in the eponymous Brockhouse Way and in the Brockhouse Institute for Materials Science, an interdisciplinary research organization that co-ordinates materials-related research on campus, and in the recently renamed Brockhouse Way."

Source:
http://mnr.mcmaster.ca/index.php/overview/history-of-the-reactor/nobel-prize-bertram-n-brockhouse.html

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Dr. Roberta Bondar:

http://www.robertabondar.com/astronaut.php

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058

"Dr. Bondar is a neurologist and researcher. After internship in internal medicine at Toronto General Hospital, she completed post-graduate medical training in neurology at the University of Western Ontario; neuro-opthalmology at Tuft’s New England Medical Center (Boston) and the Playfair Neuroscience Unit of Toronto Western Hospital; and carotid Doppler ultrasound and transcranial Doppler at the Pacific Vascular Institute (Seattle). She was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine (Neurology), McMaster University, 1982-84; Scientific staff, Sunnybrook Medical Centre, Toronto, 1988-present; Visiting Research Scholar, Department of Neurology, University of New Mexico, 1993-95; Adjunct Professor, Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, 1992-1994; Distinguished Professor, CATE, Ryerson, 1992-present; Visiting Distinguished Fellow, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, 1993-94; Visiting Distinguished Professor, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Western Ontario, 1994-present.

She was one of the six original Canadian astronauts selected in December, 1983 and began astronaut training in February, 1984. She served as chairperson of the Canadian Life Sciences Subcommittee for Space Station from 1985 to 1989, and as a member of the Ontario Premier’s Council on Science and Technology from 1988 to 1989. In early 1990, she was designated a prime Payload Specialist for the first International Microgravity Laboratory Mission (IML-1). Dr. Bondar flew on the space shuttle Discovery during Mission STS-42, January 22-30, 1992 where she performed life science and material science experiments in the Spacelab and on the middeck.

Source: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/PS/bondar.html

“When I was eight years old to be a spaceman was the most exciting thing I could imagine.”
A childhood dream to be an astronaut was realized when Dr. Roberta Bondar launched from Earth in January 1992 aboard NASA's space shuttle Discovery as the first neurologist in space and Canada's first woman astronaut. As a payload specialist she conducted over forty advanced scientific experiments for fourteen nations.

Back on Earth, Dr. Bondar and her team of researchers examined data obtained from astronauts on 24 space missions to better understand the mechanisms underlying the body's ability to recover from exposure to space."

Source: http://www.robertabondar.com/astronaut.php

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Chris Hadfield:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-100/html/jsc2001-00431.html

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas 77058

"Graduated as an Ontario Scholar from Milton District High School in 1977; (Milton is a town within Ontario's "Golden Horseshoe"). Received a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering (with honors), Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, in 1982; Conducted post-graduate research at the University of Waterloo, Ontario in 1982; Received a Master of Science in aviation systems at the University of Tennessee in 1992...

Recipient of the 1988 Liethen-Tittle Award (top pilot graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School). U.S. Navy Test Pilot of the Year (1991). Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from the Royal Military College (1996). Member of the Order of Ontario (1996). Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Trent University (1999). Vanier Award (2001). Meritorious Service Cross (2001). NASA Exceptional Service Medal (2002). Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal (2003). Inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame (2005). Commemorated on Royal Canadian Mint silver and gold coins for his spacewalk to install Canadarm2 on the International Space Station (2006).

Raised on a corn farm in southern Ontario, Chris Hadfield became interested in flying from a young age. As an Air Cadet, he won a glider pilot scholarship at age 15 and a powered pilot scholarship at age 16. He also taught skiing and ski racing part- and full-time for 10 years.
Hadfield joined the Canadian Armed Forces in May 1978...

In June 1992 Chris Hadfield was selected to become one of four new Canadian astronauts from a field of 5330 applicants. He was assigned by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in August of the same year, where he addressed technical and safety issues for Shuttle Operations Development, contributed to the development of the glass shuttle cockpit, and supported shuttle launches at the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. Between 1996 and 2001 Hadfield was NASA's Chief CAPCOM, the voice of mission control to astronauts in orbit, for 25 consecutive space shuttle missions. From 1996 to 2000, he represented CSA astronauts and coordinated their activities as the Chief Astronaut for the CSA."

Source: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/hadfield.html

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Well now, I don't know about you, but I am certainly impressed!

& I'm pleased to mention that I met Dr. Bondar many years ago, when she was on a professional visit to McMaster University. I don't think she would recall meeting me, but I certainly will always remember how excited I was to meet someone so accomplished and successful. And she is really nice! Very graceful and kind.

So...from space to underwater --- we'll visit Tobermory, (at the Northern end of the Bruce Trail), in an upcoming post.

Speaking of trails, did you know that Hamilton's annual "Around the Bay" Road Race is the oldest North American road race? (This year it happens on March 25!)

"The Hamilton Herald Newspaper and cigar store owner "Billy" Carroll, originated and sponsored the first "Around the Bay Road Race", run on Christmas Day, 1894. It is now the oldest road race in North America, older than the Boston Marathon which was born three years after the Around the Bay Road Race.

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