Canadian astrophysicist Arthur McDonald – last year’s winner of the Nobel physics prize – was among five people awarded the Order of Nova Scotia during a ceremony today at the provincial legislature.
McDonald, a retired professor originally from Sydney, N.S., was the co-winner of a Nobel prize for his work on subatomic particles known as neutrinos.
READ MORE: Dalhousie grad and Nobel Prize winner, Arthur McDonald, makes stop at alma mater
The province’s highest honour was also awarded to Prof. Francoise Baylis, a Halifax-based expert in bioethics who teaches at Dalhousie University, and Doug Knockwood of Indian Brook, a Mi’kmaq elder who survived residential schooling, homelessness and alcoholism to become a spiritual leader for his people.
Another winner was Jim Morrow, artistic director of Mermaid Theatre in Windsor, whose larger-than-life puppets have thrilled audiences around the world.
Donald Reid of Joggins was invested into the Order of Nova Scotia for his lifelong work collecting fossils along the now-famous cliffs near his home.
His collection – 70 years in the making – represents the world’s most complete fossil record of terrestrial life of the Coal Age, dating back 300 million years.