The Royal Society of Canada

Founded in 1882


The Royal Society of Canada (The Canadian Academy of the Sciences and Humanities) was founded in 1882 by The Right Honourable The Marquis of Lorne, who at the time was Governor General of Canada. It was modelled on the Royal Society in London and the Academy of Sciences in Paris. The Society was incorporated by an act of Parliament and granted its Royal Charter in 1883.

The Society consists of three Academies: the Académie des lettres et des sciences humaines; the Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences; and the Academy of Science. The aims of the Society are:
  1. making available its members' broad and varied knowledge to evaluate and advise on social, cultural, economic and scientific issues for the benefit of Canada;
  2. assessing significant issues of value to Canadians and providing independent expert advice, notably to government, on matters of public policy through its program of Expert Panel reports;
  3. fostering the highest levels of learning and research in all areas of scholarship and recognizing outstanding achievements in research and innovation by electing new Fellows and awarding medals and prizes;
  4. promoting international collaboration and Canadian scholarship and accomplishments internationally through active exchanges with other national academies; and
  5. considering important topics by the organization of annual symposia.
The Royal Society of Canada has a number of Awards particularly relevant to mathematics. The Henry Marshall Tory Medal was first awarded in 1943 and then endowed in 1947 on Henry Marshall Tory's death. He had been President of the Society in 1939-40 and was the founder of the Universities of British Columbia and Alberta, the National Research Council Laboratories and Carleton University. The Medal is presented for outstanding research contributions to astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, or physics. Among previous winners of the Medal have been Synge (the first recipient of the Medal in 1943), Coxeter (1949), Tutte (1975), and Mendelsohn (1979).

The Royal Society of Canada established the John L Synge Award in 1986 to honour John Lighton Synge. The Award is made:-
... for outstanding research in any of the branches of the mathematical sciences.
It was endowed by Synge's friends, fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, and Synge's daughter Cathleen Synge Morawetz.

Visit the society website.

Last Updated August 2004