The McGill Space Institute (MSI) and the Institute for Research on Exoplanets (iREx) at Université de Montréal are at the forefront of the exhilarating pace of space research, helping to advance our knowledge of extrasolar planets, fast radio bursts, the dark universe, and other extraterrestrial mysteries. Now their stellar work and efforts to recruit top students and researchers are getting a huge boost thanks to extraordinarygifts to McGill University and the Université de Montréal from the Trottier Family Foundation.
The visionary gifts, which total $26 million, coincide with an exciting age of discovery in astrophysics, thanks in part to the development of powerful new telescopes – such as the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) and James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) – that enable researchers to explore deep into our solar system and beyond. In addition to advancing our understanding of the universe, space research has contributed to the development of transformative technologies that have greatly benefitted society, including communication satellites, GPS, high-performance cameras, and high-speed wireless internet.
Trottier Space Institute at McGill University
The McGill Space Institute will receive $16 million, of which half will go towards the construction of an annex to the Institute’s current building on University Street. The other portion of the gift will be used to fund graduate and postdoctoral fellowships, as well as to expand on existing programmatic and research support. The ground-breaking work by the Space Institute’s researchers includes major discoveries in the area of neutron stars and fast radio bursts by Professor of Physics and Director of the Institute Victoria Kaspi, an award-winning astrophysicist who holds the Lorne Trottier Chair in Astrophysics and Cosmology at McGill.
In recognition of this historic gift, the McGill Space Institute will be renamed the Trottier Space Institute at McGill.
Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets at Université de Montréal
For its part, Université de Montréal’s Institute for Research on Exoplanets will receive $10 million to ensure the sustainability of its activities. Leaders in exoplanet research, iREx scientists have made discoveries that profoundly changed what we know about worlds beyond our solar system. Led by astrophysicist René Doyon, a Professor of Physics and the Canadian Principal Investigator of the James Webb mission, iREx has developed major scientific instruments, including an infrared camera that has captured remarkable and previously unseen images of space. In addition, iREx devotes great effort to sharing knowledge with the general public. The Trottier Family Foundation’s major gift will allow iREx’s scientific team to continue its research to discover life outside the solar system. In recognition of this exceptional donation and the support of Lorne Trottier and the Trottier Family Foundation since its inception, iREx will be renamed the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets.
“These devoted researchers scanning our skies have already broadened our horizons in a big way,” said UdeM rector Daniel Jutras. “Probing the mysteries of the universe, they have helped us come to recognize the beauty and fragility of our planet. The unprecedented support for Montreal scientists offered by Mr. Trottier and the Trottier Family Foundation will also help preserve our ecosystems here on Earth. It’s a gift that will continue to enrich future generations.”
“We are very grateful to McGill alumnusLorne Trottier and the Trottier Family Foundation, whose tremendous contributions to McGill and to its Faculties of Science and Engineering over many years have helped further our understanding of our world and our universe,” said McGill’s Interim Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Christopher Manfredi. “This most recent gift, spread out among two of our city’s great universities, will cement Montreal’s place as a leading hub of space research within Canada and the world.”
“The Trottier Family Foundation is pleased to support the world-class work of the Trottier Space Institute at McGill and the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets at the Université de Montréal,” said Lorne Trottier, the co-founder of Matrox, an industry leader in computer graphics, imaging and video products. “Science has brought untold benefits to humanity,” added Trottier, who noted astronomy was the first science. “Copernicus,Galileo and Newton laid the groundwork for the scientific revolution that’s transformed lives in so many ways. Understanding more about the laws of the universe and its origins leads to discoveries and innovations that are beneficial – in addition to satisfying our deep curiosity.”
With a lifelong love of science and technology, Lorne Trottier earned bachelor and master’s degrees in Engineering at McGill and has received several honorary degrees, including from McGill and the Université de Montréal. His family foundation has supported exoplanet research at iREx at the Université de Montréal and provided support to many key institutions on the island of Montreal. The foundation has supported astronomy education for youth across Canada and funds various initiatives promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) throughout Canada.
The Trottier Family Foundation’s generosity has made an indelible mark on McGill, including the Lorne M. Trottier Building on campus that bears his name, the creation of institutes in the Faculties of Science and Engineering and support for popular public education initiatives.
TheTrottier Space Institute has flourished since its creation in2015 with support from the Trottier Family Foundation.The interdisciplinary centre brings together researchers in Astrophysics, Planetary Science, Atmospheric Sciences, Astrobiology and other space-related areas at McGill.McGill researchers have detected thousands of fast radio bursts and identified magnetars as one likely origin of this mysterious phenomenon, helped make the first image of a black hole using the Event Horizon Telescope, and developed a microbial life detection system for space missions.
Since its inception in 2014, UdeM’s Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets successfully recruited more than 60 of the world’s most renowned researchers in a variety of domains of expertise related to the search for and understanding of alien worlds beyond our solar system. Over the years, the members of iREx have made major advances in astrophysical research, including, in 2019, the first detection of water on a planet, K2-18 b, in the habitable zone of the star it orbits, and in 2022, the discovery of a candidate “ocean planet,” TOI-1452 b, that made headlines around the world. Researchers from iREx are also leaders in the conception and development of cutting-edge astronomical instruments that have been sent to world-class telescopes all over the globe and in space.
About McGill University
Founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1821, McGill University is Canada’s top ranked medical doctoral university. McGill is consistently ranked as one of the top universities, both nationally and internationally. It is a world-renowned institution of higher learning with research activities spanning three campuses, 11 faculties, 13 professional schools, 300 programs of study and over 39,000 students, including more than 10,400 graduate students. McGill attracts students from over 150 countries around the world, its 12,000 international students making up 30% of the student body. Over half of McGill students claim a first language other than English, including approximately 20% of our students who say French is their mother tongue.
About Université de Montréal
Deeply rooted in Montreal and dedicated to its international mission, Université de Montréal is a leading research university worldwide and among the five best French-language universities. With its affiliated schools, Polytechnique Montréal and HEC Montréal, UdeM attracts over $500 million in research funding every year, making it one of Canada’s top university research hubs. UdeM has close to 70,000 students, 2,300 professors and researchers, and an active global network of 450,000 alumni.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
