About science.ca
Science.ca came on-line in the fall of 2001. It combines rich narrative biography with clear graphic explanation to describe Canada's greatest scientists and their achievements. The site is visited by thousands of students from across Canada every day, often as part of their provincial school curriculum. It currently receives 15 million hits per year, and over 1 million unique visits per year.
The web site is operated by the GCS Research Society, a non-profit organization registered in British Columbia, Canada. The site is hosted by Canadian Webhosting in Vancouver, Canada.
Science.ca features
- biographies of over 250 Canadian scientists and their work
- almost 30 science-based experiments and games
- hundreds of science-based quizzes (all answers can be found on the site)
- an Ask-a-Scientist facility with close to 1,000 answered questions in eight categories
- a list of links to important Canadian science-related web sites
- important news items from the world of Canadian science.
- A growing Canadian science job listing service.
The stats page contains current statistics on the site's content.
History
Barry Shell created the GCS Research Society in 1993. At the time, people had nowhere to go to find out about the work and achievements of Canadian scientists.
Working in his spare time and funded by government grants, Shell researched and interviewed dozens of Canadian scientists, and in 1995 he posted the profiles to a personal website at Simon Fraser University where he worked. That website led to the book Great Canadian Scientists and a companion CD-ROM featuring video interviews and science games.
In 2001, the Society's science.ca website was born with funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) PromoScience program. Since then, the site has received nearly 40 million unique visits, and now averages over 1 million unique visits per year and around 15 million hits per year.
Another book, the award-winning Sensational Scientists: The Journeys and Discoveries of 24 Men and Women of Science was published in 2005, and is also based on the content of science.ca.
Future
In addition to continued profiling of great Canadian scientists, new directions at science.ca include:
- Creating more video content. The society has a growing video archive of great Canadian scientists. Video will include science fair project ideas and other activities.
- Developing novel Canadian science content delivery for new media such as smart phones and iPads.
- Forming partnerships with other Canadian initiatives.
- Developing science theatre productions in collaboration with Canadian media artists.
- Creating an annual Canadian science festival in Vancouver and other Canadian cities, modeled after the Cheltenham science festival in England.
Membership
Please consider joining the society. Your membership supports the constant task of updating information and links at science.ca. New scientists are being educated or are immigrating to Canada every day. We need your help to keep updating the science.ca website to reflect these changes. E-mail info@science.ca to join.
Donations and Sponsorship
Contact the Society to become a sponsor and if you wish, your name or organization can be listed in the list of sponsors on the homepage. Donations are also gratefully accepted. To make a donation or become a sponsor visit our Become a Sponsor page.
Contact
GCS Research Society
4692 Quebec St.
Vancouver, BC V5V 3M1
Phone: 604-876-5790
email: info@science.ca | URL: http://www.science.ca
Last update of this page: July 22, 2013