Fun Facts

Did you know that all of the camps at SCI-FI are named after famous scientists and engineers? How many of these people did you recognize? Click on the names to visit Wikipedia to learn more about each of these famous scientists. 

Science Camps

MacKenzie (Grades 1-2) Chalmers Jack MacKenzie was appointed the first Dean of the College  of Engineering in 1921. C.J. Mackenzie is well known for designing and building Saskatoon's unique Broadway Bridge, a project intended to help the unemployed during the depression. He also took a lead role in developing nuclear research in Canada, joining the National Research Council (NRC) in 1939 and becoming its president in 1944.

Bell (Grades 3-4) - This one should be easy! Alexander Graham Bell, born in 1847 in Scotland, was the inventor of the telephone. At first he called it the "acoustic telegraph"! 

Suzuki (Grades 5-6) - Many Canadians should be able to recognize this name as well! David Suzuki is a well-known science broadcaster and educator who has spent his entire career educating Canadians and people around the world about all different types of science. Did you know he has 22 honorary degrees? 

 

Technology Camps

Compton (Grades 3-4) - Compton camp is named for Arthur Compton. Arthur was an American physicist who discovered the Compton effect. This important experiment that the behaviour of light cannot be explained solely by waves, but as a particle as well. 

Newton (Grades 5-6) - Sir Isaac Newton is another well-known scientist who we have named a camp after. Newton is famous for his theory of gravity, but he also famous for his work with math and calculus, optics, and mechanics. 

Banting (Grades 7-9) - Frederick Banting is another Canadian scientist. Born in 1891, he was a medical scientist and doctor who helped discover insulin, which helps millions of diabetic people today. 

 

Space Camps

Payette (Grades 5-6) - Julie Payette is a well known Canadian astronaut.  Did you know she is also a professional engineer?  She help develop speech recognitian software and worked as a technical advisor for the Mobile Servicing System, an advanced robotics system and Canada's contribution to the International Space Station. She flew with the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1999.

Williams (Grade 7-9) - Dafydd Rhys "Dave" Williams  is a Canadian physician and a retired Canadian Space Agency astronaut.^[ He had two spaceflights, both of which were Space Shuttle missions and  he went on three spacewalks. He was born in Saskatoon.

 

Robotics Camps

We are still thinking of a name for our camps.  they will be for grades 7-9 only.

 

Satellite Camps

Bragg (Grades 3-4) - Sir William Henry Bragg and his son, Sir William Lawrence Bragg, were a father-and-son physics team! They co-authored Bragg's Law, which helps scientists use X-rays to look at the tiny patterns and structures within crystals.

Maxwell (Grades 7-9) - This camp is named for James Clerk Maxwell, a mathematician and physicist who is famous for his development of electromagnetic theory in the 1800s. His equations - aptly named "Maxwell's Equations" - still help engineers and physicists solve problems today!

 

CompSci Camps

Boole (Grades 5-6) - Boole camp is named after George Boole, a mathematician who invented something called Boolean Algebra. Computers use only ones and zeroes to store information - this is called binary - and George Boole's work has helped computer scientists tremendously! Can you decipher this binary code? 0111001101100011011010010110011001101001 hint: click here.

Moore (Grades 7-9) - This camp is named for Gordon Moore, one of the founders of the IBM Corporation. Moore is famous for Moore's Law, which says that the number of transistors that can be placed on a computer chip doubles every two years. In other words, every two years, new computers are usually twice as fast as the ones built two years earlier. 

 

Medical Sciences Camps

Hopkins (Grades 5-6) - Named after Johns Hopkins, a wealthy entrepreneur, philantropist, and abolitionist, but not a physician. Since its founding in 1893, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has been a leader in medical research, education, and patient care. It was one of the first graduate-level medical school to admit women on an equal basis as men. Dr. Gregory House from the TV show House, MD attended Johns Hopkins University.

Osler (Grades 7-9) - Sir William Osler has been called one of the greatest icons of modern medicine and described as the Father of Modern Medicine. Osler was a pathologist, educator, bibliophile, historian, author, and renowned practical joker. He was also a great teacher - he thought that his students learned best when they were doing, not watching or listening. We think the same thing at SCI-FI!

 

VetMed Camps

Fulton (Grades 5-6 and 7-9) - Dr. Fulton, head of the U of S Veterinary Sciences department, was the first researcher to isolate the virus that causes western equine encepahalitis (also known as sleeping sickness or WEE) — a disease that killed thousands of western Canadian horses in the mid- to late 1930s. Fulton went on to develop a vaccine for WEE that was manufactured on campus in his laboratory. The WEE vaccine is a preventive tool that is still part of horseowners' regular vaccination programs. Fulton's work with WEE — a virus that is transmitted to animals and humans through mosquito species — became very important as public health teams in Western Canada learned to deal with the spread of West Nile virus — another mosquito-borne arbovirus that affects birds, horses and humans.