Past Herzberg Lectures

Established in 1975 by the Faculty of Science, this lecture honours Gerhard Herzberg, a former Chancellor of Carleton University and recipient of the 1971 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. The purpose of the lecture is to emphasize the relationship between science and society and to address an aspect of science which has a pronounced impact on our daily lives.

The lecture is held annually in the fall semester and is free and open to the public.

• Challenges in Medical research in the 1980s (1985)
  Louis Simionovitch
  Geneticist in Chief Hospital for Sick Children
• Geometry and Physics (1986)
  Sir Michael F Atiyah
  Royal Society Research Professors, Mathematics Institute, Oxford University
• The Molecular Dance of Chemical Reaction (1988)
  Dr. John Polanyi
  Nobel Prize recipient 1986, Professor of Chemistry, University of Toronto
• Lazers and Light- the electricity of the 21st Century (1990)
  Professor Geraldine A Kenny-Wallace
  Chairman, Science Council of Canada
• Contrasts: the Mechanical Technologies of Nature and of People (1991)
  Dr. Steven Vogel
  Professor of Biology, Duke University
• The Digital Rainbow: some history and applications of numerical spectrum analysis (1992)
  David R. Brillinger
  Professor of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley
• Artificial Neural Networks (1993)
  Dr. Geoffrey Hinton
  Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto
• Probing Creation Testing The Big Bang (1995)
  Dr. David Schramn
  University of Chicago
• The Improbability of Human Evolution in the age of Bacteria (1996)
  Dr. Stephan Jay Gould
  Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology, Harvard University
• Free Radicals, Antioxidants , and Human Health (1999)
  Dr. Keith U Ingold
  Distinguished Research Scientist, National Research Council (Canada)
• Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language (2000)
  Dr. Steven Pinker
  Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• How does the sun shine? (2001)
  Dr. John N Bahcall
  Institute for Advanced Study School of Natural Sciences, Princeton University
• Fisheries impact on marine ecosystems and their implication of Global Securities (2003)
  Dr. Daniel Pauly
  Professor of Fisheries, University of British Columbia
• Dinosaurs the Cultural Icons of Science (2004)
  Dr. Philip Currie
  Head of the Dinosaur Research, Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology
• The art of research (2005)
  Dr. Ram Murty
  Professor and Queen Research Chair in Mathematics
• Origami, Linkages, and Polyhedral: Folding with Algorithms (2006)
  Dr. Erik D. Demaine
  Associate Professor of Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Seeing and Feeling Nanotechnology: Plastics that change colour with electricity and pressure (2007)
  Dr. Geoffrey A. Ozin
  Tier 1 Canada Research Chair and Distinguished University Professor
• The Large Hadron Collider: Shedding light on the Dark Universe (2008)
  Dr. Rolf-Dieter Heuer
  Director in Charge of High Energy Physics and Astroparticale Physics, Deutsche Elektronen-Synchrotron
• Doing More Good than Harm: Building an Evidence Base for Environmental Policy and Practice (2009)
  Dr. Andrew Pullin
  Centre for Evidence-based Conservation
  University of Wales, Bangor, Wales
• The Dynamic Brain: Adaptation, Changing Environments and Life Circumstances (2010)
  Dr. Anthony Phillips
  Scientific Director, CIHR's Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addition
• Shaken and Stirred: The Cost of Earthquakes and How Science Can Help (2011)
  Dr. John Cassidy
  Research Scienties, Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada and Head of the Earthquake Seismology Section
• Must we irrdiate food?
  Dr. Rick Holley, University of Manitoba
  View lecture video here.
• More Food, Smaller Footprint: Earth System Science and Biological Agriculture
  Dr. Gerald M. Ross
  View lecture video here.