Juan Cesar Scaiano, OC

Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

, FRSC

Royal Society of Canada

The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...

 (born 1945) first came to Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 in 1975 as a visiting scientist with the National Research Council

National Research Council of Canada

The National Research Council is an agency of the Government of Canada which conducts scientific research and development.- History :...

 from Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. Returning to the NRC in 1979, he developed an innovative new program studying organic reaction intermediates using laser

Laser

A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...

 techniques. He then joined the University of Ottawa

University of Ottawa

The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...

 in 1991 as professor of chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

.

Current projects in the Scaiano Research Group include such diverse topics and fluorescent sensors, photolithography

Photolithography

Photolithography is a process used in microfabrication to selectively remove parts of a thin film or the bulk of a substrate. It uses light to transfer a geometric pattern from a photomask to a light-sensitive chemical "photoresist", or simply "resist," on the substrate...

, persistent free radicals and nanoparticles.

Since then he has won many national and international awards for his work in photochemistry

Photochemistry

Photochemistry, a sub-discipline of chemistry, is the study of chemical reactions that proceed with the absorption of light by atoms or molecules.. Everyday examples include photosynthesis, the degradation of plastics and the formation of vitamin D with sunlight.-Principles:Light is a type of...

. He was the first to use two lasers to follow photochemical changes in short-lived intermediates during a reaction which allows scientists to measure photochemical reactions. He has won awards including the Premier's Platinum Medal for Research Excellence, which is one of the largest single research awards in the world, the Tory Medal, the Rutherford Memorial Medal

Rutherford Memorial Medal

The Rutherford Memorial Medal is an award for research in the fields of physics and chemistry by the Royal Society of Canada. It was dedicated to the memorial of Ernest Rutherford.-Physics:* 2010 : Kari Dalnoki-Veress* 2009 : Barth Nettlefield...

 and the 2002 Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering.

In 2005 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada

Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

. The citation reads:

Juan Scaiano is one of Canada's most eminent chemists. His work has shaped the field of physical organic chemistry over the last 25 years and its impact has extended to the pharmaceutical, microelectronics and the pulp and paper industries. A renowned expert in the field of photochemistry, he pioneered the use of lasers to study and measure organic reactions. Distinguished professor at the University of Ottawa and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Applied Photochemistry, he has been an inspiring teacher to students, nurturing their creative spirit and conveying to them a sense of community responsibility.

He is a member of the Centre for Research in Photonics at the University of Ottawa.
He also founded a company named Luzchem which builds and sells photochemistry equipment.