The Most Famous
ASTRONOMERS from Canada
This page contains a list of the greatest Canadian Astronomers. The pantheon dataset contains 531 Astronomers, 9 of which were born in Canada. This makes Canada the birth place of the 13th most number of Astronomers behind Belgium and Switzerland.
Top 9
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Canadian Astronomers of all time. This list of famous Canadian Astronomers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Arthur B. McDonald (1943 - )
With an HPI of 60.61, Arthur B. McDonald is the most famous Canadian Astronomer. His biography has been translated into 60 different languages on wikipedia.
Arthur Bruce McDonald, P.Eng (born August 29, 1943) is a Canadian astrophysicist. McDonald is the director of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Collaboration and held the Gordon and Patricia Gray Chair in Particle Astrophysics at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario from 2006 to 2013. He was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Japanese physicist Takaaki Kajita.
2. Hubert Reeves (1932 - 2023)
With an HPI of 51.82, Hubert Reeves is the 2nd most famous Canadian Astronomer. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.
Hubert Reeves (July 13, 1932 – October 13, 2023) was a Canadian astrophysicist and popularizer of science.
3. James Craig Watson (1838 - 1880)
With an HPI of 49.54, James Craig Watson is the 3rd most famous Canadian Astronomer. His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.
James Craig Watson (January 28, 1838 – November 23, 1880) was a Canadian-American astronomer, discoverer of comets and minor planets, director of the University of Michigan's Detroit Observatory in Ann Arbor, and awarded with the Lalande Prize in 1869.
4. John Stanley Plaskett (1865 - 1941)
With an HPI of 45.50, John Stanley Plaskett is the 4th most famous Canadian Astronomer. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
John Stanley Plaskett (November 17, 1865 – October 17, 1941) was a Canadian astronomer.
5. David H. Levy (1948 - )
With an HPI of 44.74, David H. Levy is the 5th most famous Canadian Astronomer. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.
David Howard Levy (born May 22, 1948) is a Canadian amateur astronomer, science writer and discoverer of comets and minor planets, who co-discovered Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 in 1993, which collided with the planet Jupiter in 1994.
6. Wendy Freedman (1957 - )
With an HPI of 35.21, Wendy Freedman is the 6th most famous Canadian Astronomer. Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Wendy Laurel Freedman (born July 17, 1957) is a Canadian-American astronomer, best known for her measurement of the Hubble constant, and as director of the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California, and Las Campanas, Chile. She is now the John & Marion Sullivan University Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. Her principal research interests are in observational cosmology, focusing on measuring both the current and past expansion rates of the universe, and on characterizing the nature of dark energy.
7. Sara Seager (1971 - )
With an HPI of 31.10, Sara Seager is the 7th most famous Canadian Astronomer. Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Sara Seager (born 21 July 1971) is a Canadian–American astronomer and planetary scientist. She is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is known for her work on extrasolar planets and their atmospheres. She is the author of two textbooks on these topics, and has been recognized for her research by Popular Science, Discover Magazine, Nature, and TIME Magazine. Seager was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2013 citing her theoretical work on detecting chemical signatures on exoplanet atmospheres and developing low-cost space observatories to observe planetary transits.
8. Brett J. Gladman (1966 - )
With an HPI of 30.27, Brett J. Gladman is the 8th most famous Canadian Astronomer. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Brett James Gladman (born April 19, 1966) is a Canadian astronomer and a full professor at the University of British Columbia's Department of Physics and Astronomy in Vancouver, British Columbia. He holds the Canada Research Chair in planetary astronomy. He does both theoretical work (large-scale numerical simulations of planetary dynamics) and observational optical astronomy (being a discoverer of many planetary moons and minor planets).
9. Dale Frail (1961 - )
With an HPI of 28.59, Dale Frail is the 9th most famous Canadian Astronomer. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Dale A. Frail is a Canadian astronomer working at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Socorro, New Mexico.
Pantheon has 9 people classified as astronomers born between 1838 and 1971. Of these 9, 6 (66.67%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living astronomers include Arthur B. McDonald, David H. Levy, and Wendy Freedman. The most famous deceased astronomers include Hubert Reeves, James Craig Watson, and John Stanley Plaskett. As of April 2022, 1 new astronomers have been added to Pantheon including Dale Frail.
Living Astronomers
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Arthur B. McDonald
1943 - Present
HPI: 60.61
David H. Levy
1948 - Present
HPI: 44.74
Wendy Freedman
1957 - Present
HPI: 35.21
Sara Seager
1971 - Present
HPI: 31.10
Brett J. Gladman
1966 - Present
HPI: 30.27
Dale Frail
1961 - Present
HPI: 28.59
Deceased Astronomers
Go to all RankingsHubert Reeves
1932 - 2023
HPI: 51.82
James Craig Watson
1838 - 1880
HPI: 49.54
John Stanley Plaskett
1865 - 1941
HPI: 45.50
Newly Added Astronomers (2022)
Go to all RankingsWhich Astronomers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 3 most globally memorable Astronomers since 1700.
