File: hsh_hon.txt by Christine Clement (Spring 2021) In this file, I list Helen Sawyer Hogg's Honours and Awards As a starting point for preparing this file, I used a list that Professor Tom Bolton compiled in 1992 when the UofT telescope in Chile was named in Helen's honour. Then I confirmed the honours and the dates by going through the material in the Helen Sawyer Hogg collection at the UofT Archives. These archives were particularly helpful because they provided valuable background information concerning her Order of Canada honours, her service for the Royal Canadian Institute, the Dorothea Klumpke-Roberts Award and the scholarship at the University of Waterloo. Randall Rosenfeld provided information about Helen's RASC honours. ------------------------ 1946: Fellow, Royal Society of Canada (First Woman in the Physical Sciences Section) 1949: Annie J. Cannon Prize, American Astronomical Society 1958: Honorary Degree, D. Sc., Mount Holyoke College 1962: Honorary Degree, D. Sc., University of Waterloo, Ontario 1967: Rittenhouse Medal, Rittenhouse Astronomical Society, Philadelphia (first Canadian) 1967: Service Award Medal, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada 1967: Radcliffe Graduate Achievement Medal, Radcliffe College 1967: Centennial Medal, Canada The official document: "On the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of the Confederation of Canada, the Centennial Medal is conferred on Mrs. Helen Hogg, AB, PhD, FRSC, DSc in recognition of valuable service to the Nation, July 1, 1967" NOTE the "Mrs" designation. 1968: Officer, Order of Canada She received official notice in a letter written on Dec 20, 1968 from the Secretary-General, Order of Canada. The investiture was held on April 8, 1969. When Helen received this award in 1968, it was called the Medal of Service, Order of Canada and she was entitled to list the initials SM after her name. At that time, there were two levels of the Order: Companion and Medal of Service. However, on May 31, 1972, the Prime Minister announced an expanded system of Canadian honours: Member, Officer and Companion of the Order of Canada. As a result, on July 1st, 1972, recipients of the Medal of Service would become Officer of the Order of Canada and instead of the abbreviation SM, they were told to use OC. In a letter written by the Registrar of Honours, on March 23, 1973, Helen was asked to return her Medal of Service so that they could send her the Badge of Officer of the Order of Canada. Because of this change, people no longer recognize the term "Medal of Service. Therefore it is appropriate to say "Officer". That was done in the kid's book by Michael Webb and some other sources. 1969: Royal Canadian Institute - Helen was awarded honorary membership at the 14th meeting of the 120th session on March 1, 1969 I saw this in the report of the meeting. Presumably she received a letter to notify her of this honour, but I have not seen it and there is a full box of files related to the RCI. Helen played an active role in the RCI for many years. She served on council for a 2-year term from 1958 to 1960 and later, for a 4-year term from 1961 to 1965, during which time she served as 2nd VP (1962-1963), 1st VP (1963-1964) and President (1964-1965). In addition to her contributions to the organization of the weekly speaker meetings, Helen played an important role in RCI initiatives to encourage high school students to pursue careers in science. 1972: International Astronomical Union Colloquium No. 21, Variable Stars in Globular Clusters and in Related Systems, held in her honour on the 29th to 31st of August 1972 in Toronto 1972-1977: Honorary President, Toronto Centre, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada 1976: Companion, Order of Canada Helen received a letter on April 20, 1976 announcing the appointment and was informed that the list of new appointments would be published in the Canada Gazette on June 26, 1976. The investiture was held on October 20, 1976. 1976: Honorary Degree, D. Sc., McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario 1977: Honorary Degree, D. Sc., University of Toronto 1977: Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal 1977-1981: Honorary President, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada 1981: Honorary Degree, D. Litt., St. Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia 1983: Dorothea Klumpke-Roberts Award, Astronomical Society of the Pacific On November 15, 1982, John G. Philips, Secretary-Treasurer of the ASP wrote HSH a letter to inform her of the honour. He told her that the award was established to recognize outstanding contributors to the public's understanding and appreciation of astronomy. "In awarding it, we wish to pay tribute to your life long contributions to public education and your very valuable newspaper column." He also mentioned that previous awardees included Fred Hoyle, Walter Sullivan, Isaac Asimov, Bart Bok, Carl Sagan. 1983: Appointed Honorary Life Member of the University Women's Club of Toronto 1984: Asteroid 2917 named Helen Sawyer Hogg 1985: Honorary Degree, D. Sc., University of Lethbridge, Alberta 1985: The Helen Sawyer Hogg Prize Lecture was initiated in 1985 by the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA) with the participation of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), the Planetarium Association of Canada, and the Royal Canadian Institute. It continues as an annual public lecture co-sponsored by CASCA and the RASC. The first Helen Sawyer Hogg lecture was given at a CASCA meeting in Toronto by Harvard Professor, Owen Gingerich. 1985: Award of Merit, City of Toronto 1985: Sandford Fleming Medal, Royal Canadian Institute 1987: Appointed Honorary Life Member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (September 26, 1987) 1989: Helen Sawyer Hogg Observatory at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa, dedicated in her honour 1990: Appointed Honorary Life Member of Science North, Sudbury, ON 1991: First scientist profiled in the Scientists and Inventors series of books for elementary school children: Helen Sawyer Hogg - A Lifetime of Stargazing by Michael Webb published by Copp Clark Pitman 1991: Helen Sawyer Hogg Scholarship in Astronomy established at the University of Waterloo to recognize her role as a pre-eminent Canadian astronomer and her contributions as inaugural chair of the Faculty of Science Foundation 1992: Helen Sawyer Telescope, University of Toronto Southern Observatory, Las Campanas, Chile, dedicated in her honour Some of the speeches made at this dedication ceremony have been posted on the Helen Sawyer Hogg page of the UofT Astronomy & Astrophysics website. They are very interesting to read. 1992: Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation This was conferred on Helen a few months before her death on January 28, 1993. It was reported by Clement & Broughton in their obituary of Professor Sawyer Hogg (1993, JRASC Volume 87, page 351) ------ Posthumous Honours 1993: After her death in 1993, the Faculty of Arts and Science and the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto established the Helen Sawyer Hogg Distinguished Visitorship as a memorial tribute. The Visitorship brings a distinguished female scientist to the University on a regular basis to deliver both specialist and public lectures, and to interact with faculty members and graduate students in the astrophysical and related sciences. 2002: University of Toronto's Great Past For the 175th anniversary of the University, banners were posted around the Greater Toronto Area. Helen was honoured as one of the approximately 100 "Great Minds for a Great Future". [More info about this from a link on the HSH page on the Astronomy & Astrophysics website] 2004: Induction into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame in Ottawa (May 2004) 2010: Induction into the Circle of Lowell High School Distinguished Alumni, Lowell, Massachusetts ---------------------------------- Honour not confirmed Honorary Life Membership in Ontario Field Naturalists Tom Bolton included this as one of Helen's honours when he prepared his list in 1992. I looked through the Helen Hogg collection at UofT Archives and was unable to find any reference to this. I also tried googling the organization. As far as I can tell, the organization no longer exists and it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack to search through the HSH collection to find this honour. I don't intend to pursue this further. -------------------- end of file -----------------------------