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Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry, military engineer (born 3 October 1682 in Toulon, France; died 23 March 1756 in Quebec City, QC). Chaussegros de Léry contributed to the development of New France by fortifying the colony’s towns, namely Quebec and Montreal. His relief maps of Quebec and Montreal are still regarded as accurate models of these cities. Some consider Chaussegros de Léry the father of the first truly Canadian architecture. (See also Architectural History: The French Colonial Regime.)

Adrien Pouliot, engineer and mathematician (b at Saint-Jean, Île d'Orléans 4 Jan 1896: d at Québec City 1980). After completing his cours classique at the Séminaire de Québec, he entered the École Polytechnique de Montréal earning a BA in applied science in 1915.

Andrew Onderdonk, contractor (b at New York City c 1849; d at Oscawana, NY 21 June 1905).

Frederic Franklin Worthington, "Worthy," army officer, engineer, adventurer (b at Peterhead, Scotland 14 Sep 1889; d at Ottawa 8 Dec 1967).

Joseph-Armand Bombardier, entrepreneur, inventor of the snowmobile and Ski-Doo (born 16 April 1907 in Valcourt, QC; died 18 February 1964 in Sherbrooke, QC). While Bombardier’s many inventions demonstrate his mechanical skills, his ability not only to respond to transportation needs but to create them gave rise to his namesake corporation’s record of innovation (see Bombardier Inc.).

Robert (Bob) Brent Thirsk, biomedical engineer, astronaut (b at New Westminster, BC 17 Aug 1953). He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Calgary (BSc, 1976) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MSc, 1978), and he received an MD from McGill University in 1982.

Frederic Henry Sexton, educator, mining engineer (b at New Boston, NH 9 June 1879; d at Wolfville, NS 12 Jan 1955). After serving as an assistant in metallurgy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1901-02, he worked for the General Electric Company as a research chemist and metallurgist.

Frank Russel Thurston, aircraft engineer (b at Chicago, Ill 5 Dec 1914). Thurston's British parents took him at age one to England, where he worked from 1937 at the National Physical Laboratory.

Gerald Vincent Bull, engineer and ballistics expert (born 9 March 1928 in North Bay, ON; died 22 March 1990 in Brussels, Belgium). He studied at the University of Toronto’s Institute for Aerospace Studies. At the time, he was the youngest person to ever receive a PhD from the university. He was involved in some of Canada’s most advanced experimental defence projects. Later in his life, Bull was convicted of breaking an international arms embargo against apartheid South Africa. He spent his life perfecting artillery systems; some of his designs could launch payloads into space. He was assassinated during the development of a space gun for Iraq.

John Hamilton Parkin, aeronautical engineer (b at Toronto 27 Sept 1891; d at Ottawa 14 Nov 1981). After graduating in engineering from University of Toronto, Parkin joined the faculty and worked during WWI on explosives production and aviation under T.R. Loudon.

Elijah McCoy, engineer, inventor (born 2 May 1843 or 1844 in Colchester, Canada West; died 10 October 1929 in Wayne County, Michigan.) McCoy was an African-Canadian mechanical engineer and inventor best known for his groundbreaking innovations in industrial lubrication.

Although Alexander Graham Bell is most famously credited as the inventor of the telephone, he also coached what was arguably the world’s most advanced aviation team of the early 20th century.

Frank Lucius Packard, novelist, short story writer, engineer (born at Montréal, Que., 2 Feb 1877; died at Lachine, Que., 17 Feb 1942).

Roland Galarneau, CM, machinist and inventor (born 16 February 1922 in Hull, Quebec; died 22 May 2011 in Hull). In the late 1960s, Galarneau invented the Converto-Braille, a computerized printer capable of transcribing text into Braille at 100 words per minute. This was a landmark innovation for people with visual impairments, as it increased their access to textbooks and other written information. Galarneau developed faster versions of the Converto-Braille in the 1970s. The company he founded eventually adapted the machine into software for IBM computers in the 1980s. This software was a precursor of the Braille software used today.

Elizabeth (Elsie) Muriel Gregory MacGill, OC, aeronautical engineer, feminist (born 27 March 1905 in Vancouver, BC; died 4 November 1980 in Cambridge, Massachusetts). Elsie MacGill was the first woman to earn a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering (1929). She was also the first practising Canadian woman engineer. In 1938, she became chief aeronautical engineer of Canadian Car & Foundry (Can Car). There, she headed the Canadian production of Hawker Hurricane fighter planes during the Second World War. An active feminist, MacGill was national president of the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs (1962–64). She was also a member of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada (1967–70).

Key Facts
Born 27 March 1905, died 4 November 1980
First woman aeronautical engineer and aircraft designer
Key Canadian feminist
Oversaw production of fighter planes during WWII  
Nicknamed “Queen of the Hurricanes”

Donna Theo Strickland, CC, physicist (born 27 May 1959 in Guelph, ON). Donna Strickland is a pioneering physicist, known for her work on ultrafast lasers. She is currently a professor of physics at the University of Waterloo. She has authored more than 90 publications and has made seminal contributions to the field of laser technology. In 2018, Strickland was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work on the development of laser technology.

Alexander Graham Bell, teacher of the deaf, inventor, scientist (born 3 March 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland; died 2 August 1922 near Baddeck, NS). Alexander Graham Bell is generally considered second only to Thomas Alva Edison among 19th- and 20th-century inventors. Although he is best known as the inventor of the first practical telephone, he also did innovative work in other fields, including aeronautics, hydrofoils and wireless communication (the “photophone”). Moreover, Bell himself considered his work with the deaf to be his most important contribution. Born in Scotland, he emigrated to Canada in 1870 with his parents. Bell married American Mabel Hubbard in 1877 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1882. From the mid-1880s, he and his family spent their summers near Baddeck on Cape Breton Island, where they built a large home, Beinn Bhreagh. From then on, Bell divided his time and his research between the United States and Canada. He died and was buried at Baddeck in 1922.