Gordon Edwards (born 1940) is the president and co-founder of the nonprofit organization Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility. Edwards was born in

Lansdowne, Ontario Leeds and the Thousand Islands is a township (Canada), township in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, located within the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville. The township is located along the St. Lawrence R ...

and grew up in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. His parents were both pharmacists, and he was the youngest of five children. He graduated from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in 1961 with a gold medal in Mathematics and Physics and a

Woodrow Wilson Fellowship The Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation) is a nonpartisan, non-profit institution based in Princeton, New Jersey that says it aims to strengthen American democracy by "cultivating ...

. He later obtained two master's degrees from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, and in 1972, he obtained a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Queen's University. He taught

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

Vanier College Vanier College () is an Quebec English, English-language public College (Quebec), college located in the Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Saint-Laurent borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1970 as the second English-language public coll ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. He is known as a leading anti-nuclear activist in Canada. Edwards gained public profile after he debated

Edward Teller Edward Teller (; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian and American Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist and chemical engineer who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" and one of the creators of ...

, the famous physicist and 'father of the hydrogen bomb', on live Canadian national television on October 17, 1974, becoming known as a leading anti-nuclear activist. ''The Great Debate'' was moderated by Canadian television personality and author,

Pierre Berton Pierre Francis de Marigny Berton, CC, O.Ont. (July 12, 1920 – November 30, 2004) was a Canadian historian, writer, journalist and broadcaster. Berton wrote 50 best-selling books, mainly about Canadiana, Canadian history and popular cultur ...

. The resolution debated was: "nuclear power plants are necessary and should be constructed." Edwards argued against the proposition and won by 60 to 36 votes. Since then, Edwards has been featured on Canadian national television broadcasts and in documentaries as a critic of the nuclear industry. He was featured on two episodes of the CBC's ''

The Nature of Things ''The Nature of Things'' (formerly, ''The Nature of Things with David Suzuki'') is a Canadian television series of documentary programs. It debuted on CBC Television on 6 November 1960. Many of the programs document nature and the effect th ...

'' hosted by

David Suzuki David Takayoshi Suzuki (born March 24, 1936) is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster, and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a PhD in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department at the ...

. The first, in 1998, was called ''The Friendly Atom'' and considered how nuclear technology has been used for peaceful purposes and for war. Edwards and Alex Mayman, Vice-President of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., were interviewed in the episode. The second, in 2010, was called ''My Nuclear Neighbour'' and looked at small towns in Ontario and Alberta hosting or considering nuclear reactors. The episode featured Edwards alongside Duncan Hawthorne, the president and CEO of

Bruce Power Bruce Power Limited Partnership is a Canadian business partnership composed of several corporations. It exists (as of 2015) as a partnership between TC Energy (31.6%), BPC Generation Infrastructure Trust (61.4%), the Power Workers Union (4%) an ...

, the world's largest operating nuclear facility. In 2011, Edwards was interviewed over 20 times about the

Fukushima nuclear accident The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, whic ...

on CBC Television News, CTV Television News, and Canada-AM (CTV). Edwards has published articles and reports on radiation standards,

radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. It is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear ...

uranium mining Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the earth. Over 50,000 tons of uranium were produced in 2019. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account for 68% of w ...

nuclear proliferation Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons to additional countries, particularly those not recognized as List of states with nuclear weapons, nuclear-weapon states by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonl ...

, the economics of nuclear power, its health implications, and non-nuclear energy strategies. Edwards co-authored a 1976 nation-wide study of the role of the mathematical sciences in business, industry, government, education and science in seven volumes. ''Mathematical Sciences in Canada'' was commissioned and published by the

Science Council of Canada The Science Council of Canada (SCC) was a Canadian governmental advisory board existing from 1966 to 1993. It originally had 25 scientists and senior civil servants, later expanded to 40 natural and physical scientists, with the civil servants remov ...

. Edwards has provided consulting services on nuclear issues to governmental and non-governmental bodies at the provincial, territorial, national and international levels. He has also provided invited testimony and expert sworn testimony to legislative bodies, commissions, and courts. He has worked as a consultant for governmental bodies such as the

Auditor General of Canada The Auditor General of Canada (French: La vérificatrice générale du Canada) is a Supreme audit institution which acts as an officer to the Parliament of Canada tasked with highlighting accountability and oversight by conducting independent f ...

, the Select Committee on Ontario Hydro Affairs, and the Ontario Royal Commission on Electric Power Planning. In 2006, he received the

Nuclear-Free Future Award Since 1998 the Nuclear-Free Future Award (NFFA) is an award given to anti-nuclear activists, organizations and communities. The award is intended to promote opposition to uranium mining, nuclear weapons and nuclear power. The NFFA is a project of ...

in the "education" category.

References

External links

The Great Debate: Gordon Edwards vs Edward Teller

How I Became a Nuclear Skeptic

*
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
1940 births Living people Canadian anti–nuclear power activists University of Toronto alumni University of Chicago alumni Canadian expatriates in the United States {{montreal-stub

See also

References

External links