The Galt Museum is celebrating science with their new exhibit, the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame, which opens Feb. 2 and runs until May 19.

The travelling exhibit comes to the Galt Museum through the Canadian  Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa.
 It features displays of 34 well known scientists like Alexander Graham Bell and not so well known scientists like Bertram Brockhouse, a 1994 Physics Nobel prize winner who was actually born in Lethbridge.

“I always begin my courses by telling the students a Nobel Laureate winner was born in Lethbridge. We’re looking for the next Nobel Laureate,” said University of Lethbridge associate professor Roy M. Golsteyn who is studying cancer cells at the university.

 

“This exhibit is a good way to celebrate Canadian science and technology,” he continued.
“Lethbridge actually has the most scientists per capita of any community,” he said adding there are many scientific research institutions in Lethbridge including the Lethbridge Research Centre and of course the university.
 He was surprised by a lot of the names and faces in the exhibit.

“I’m always learning. I learned quite a bit. Canada has 58 Nobel laureates.One was born in Lethbridge and Richard Taylor was born in Medicine Hat. It’s really quite something, ” he said adding Canadian scientists’s work has contributed to much of the technology people take for granted today from defibrillators and stethoscopes to innovations in wheat production and even mapping. A Canadian even helped discover the quark- the elementary particles of all matter.

 So to enhance the experience, The Galt Museum has chosen several items which would not be without  the contributions of Canadian scientists.
 It also features an interactive component including an audio -visual component which gives you more information about the scientists, plus a puzzle, and a science trail handout which sets patrons on a science scavenger hunt within the exhibit.
The Galt Museum also has several  activities planned  in conjunction with the exhibit.

 On March 22, Canadian astronaut Roberta Bondar will be speaking as part of the  the Galt Museum’s week long “nerdfest” March 21-23.
 Tickets went on sale for comic book artist Scott McCloud and were immediately a third sold out.
 The Boston born comics artist and theorist presents comic workshops all over the United States and tis the creator of “Zot!) a lighthearted  science fiction/ superhero comic book.

“It’s not about Spiderman or Superman, it is about things like how to draw your own comic books,” said Galt Museum special events co-ordinator Leslie Hall.
 McCloud will be  presenting a two-day comic workshop, March 21-22 exploring all things comic book related. He’ll speak about comics, cartooning,visual communication and comic book art history, storytelling through comics plus a  question and answer period and book signing.
 Tickets are $100. There is a maximum of 30 people.

Other events happening during nerdfest include an all night Dungeons and Dragons session, for which Dungeon-masters are needed, pop culture trivia on March 22  and a dance featuring the music of Moon Dancer.
 They also have several science based activities including eggs, using science to make bread and  a pinhole camera workshop for the kids on Feb. 16. For adults, there will be a workshop on old fashioned home made cleaners, plus nuno felting, where  patrons will learn all about safely staining and decorating felt.

“Felt is one of the oldest textiles used other than animal hides,” Hall said.
In April there will be another  seminar on worm composting and another on greenhouses.
The exhibit officially opens Feb. 16 with a talk by  Golsteyn, though it opens to the public, Feb. 2.