The Nova Scotian Institute of Science congratulates the recently-announced winners of the 12th Annual Discovery Centre Awards, two of whom have NSIS connections.

Dr. Leo Vining served on the NSIS Council and was President for 1980/81. He was post-humously inducted into the Centre’s Nova Scotia Science Hall of Fame. Dr. Vining was born in New Zealand, where he served in the navy during WWII. He went on to do a PhD in organic chemistry at Cambridge, and after several post doctoral fellowships he came to Canada. After some time at the National Research Council in Saskatchewan, he came to Halifax. Dr. Vining was a professor of Biology at Dalhousie University until 1991, and continued as an active researcher until 2007. He wrote over 280 refereed papers and numerous other publications

Dr. Jeff Hutchings is the winner of the Science Champion Award and he is a Killam Professor of Biology at Dalhousie Universty. He is known for his innovative approaches to fundamental questions in fish ecology and evolution. He is able to bring scientific findings, especially fisheries related issues, to politicians and the general public. Dr. Hutchings participated in an NSIS panel discussion during the 1998-1999 lecture season, speaking about new strategies in fisheries management. He has recently drawn attention to the negative impact of government budget cuts on Canadian scientific research.

You can find further information on the full list of Discovery Centre award winners on the Discovery Centre’s website.