Canadian inventors of note have been commemorated in a series of stamps just released by Canada Post.
The four new stamps, part of Canada Post’s Canadian Innovations series, feature the inventions of the electric oven, the electric wheelchair, the cardiac pacemaker, and the BlackBerry.
“This series shines a spotlight on the ‘Made in Canada’ leaps of science and creativity that have changed lives here in Canada and around the world,” said Jim Phillips, Canada Post’s director of stamp services.
Thomas Ahearn, the Ottawa-born inventor of the electric stove, was extensively involved in the world of early electronics technology.
Starting out as a telegraph operator, Ahearn worked at several early telephone companies in the Ottawa area, including the Bell Telephone Company. In 1882, he founded an electrical contracting company and in the same year set up the first telephone lines to operate on Parliament Hill.
Ahearn invented the electric cooking range in 1882, and in 1892 delivered the first electric stove to the Windsor Hotel in Ottawa. The original model was made of brick, two metres wide by two metres high, and according to the press at the time, hot enough to “roast an ox.”
Ahearn was also the first to set up electric lights on Parliament Hill to coincide with the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. The ambitious innovator then proceeded to found the Ottawa Electric Rail Company, which provided streetcar service to the city.
He was also instrumental in setting up radio facilities across the country as well as utilities companies in the Ottawa area. His son Frank would become the owner of the early Ottawa Senators NHL hockey team.
Hamilton native George J. Klein (1904-1992), considered one of Canada’s most prolific inventors, invented the electric wheelchair, offering mobility to quadriplegics.
Despite being an average student in grade school, Klein went on to developed innovations such as ZEEP nuclear reactors (a predecessor to the CANDU reactors), aircraft skis, the STEM antenna on Canada’s first launched satellite and the Canadarm for the space program, and, of course, the electric wheelchair.
In 1950, Dr John Hopps developed the world’s first cardiac pacemaker for people with chronic heart conditions while he was studying hypothermia, although the original model was too large to fit inside the human body.
The BlackBerry was innovated by Waterloo-based company Research In Motion and released to the market in 1999. The device was the first of its kind, and represented a huge leap forward in the realm of telecommunications.
For the first time, workers and the general public were able to send digital information and communications on a mobile device, changing forever the way people communicate and do business and laying the groundwork for the ever-connected wireless world of today.
There are currently numerous varieties of BlackBerry devices running on different networks as the telecommunications and digital devices field becomes increasingly widespread and varied.
Research In Motion was founded by Mike Lazaridis, who serves as the company’s Co-CEO along with Jim Balsillie. An Officer of the Order of Canada, at age 12 Lazaridis won a prize at the Windsor Public Library for reading every science book in the library.
The four new stamps, part of Canada Post’s Canadian Innovations series, feature the inventions of the electric oven, the electric wheelchair, the cardiac pacemaker, and the BlackBerry.
“This series shines a spotlight on the ‘Made in Canada’ leaps of science and creativity that have changed lives here in Canada and around the world,” said Jim Phillips, Canada Post’s director of stamp services.
Thomas Ahearn, the Ottawa-born inventor of the electric stove, was extensively involved in the world of early electronics technology.
Starting out as a telegraph operator, Ahearn worked at several early telephone companies in the Ottawa area, including the Bell Telephone Company. In 1882, he founded an electrical contracting company and in the same year set up the first telephone lines to operate on Parliament Hill.
Ahearn invented the electric cooking range in 1882, and in 1892 delivered the first electric stove to the Windsor Hotel in Ottawa. The original model was made of brick, two metres wide by two metres high, and according to the press at the time, hot enough to “roast an ox.”
Ahearn was also the first to set up electric lights on Parliament Hill to coincide with the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. The ambitious innovator then proceeded to found the Ottawa Electric Rail Company, which provided streetcar service to the city.
He was also instrumental in setting up radio facilities across the country as well as utilities companies in the Ottawa area. His son Frank would become the owner of the early Ottawa Senators NHL hockey team.
Hamilton native George J. Klein (1904-1992), considered one of Canada’s most prolific inventors, invented the electric wheelchair, offering mobility to quadriplegics.
Despite being an average student in grade school, Klein went on to developed innovations such as ZEEP nuclear reactors (a predecessor to the CANDU reactors), aircraft skis, the STEM antenna on Canada’s first launched satellite and the Canadarm for the space program, and, of course, the electric wheelchair.
In 1950, Dr John Hopps developed the world’s first cardiac pacemaker for people with chronic heart conditions while he was studying hypothermia, although the original model was too large to fit inside the human body.
The BlackBerry was innovated by Waterloo-based company Research In Motion and released to the market in 1999. The device was the first of its kind, and represented a huge leap forward in the realm of telecommunications.
For the first time, workers and the general public were able to send digital information and communications on a mobile device, changing forever the way people communicate and do business and laying the groundwork for the ever-connected wireless world of today.
There are currently numerous varieties of BlackBerry devices running on different networks as the telecommunications and digital devices field becomes increasingly widespread and varied.
Research In Motion was founded by Mike Lazaridis, who serves as the company’s Co-CEO along with Jim Balsillie. An Officer of the Order of Canada, at age 12 Lazaridis won a prize at the Windsor Public Library for reading every science book in the library.
