Peter Calamai (June 23, 1943 – January 22, 2019) was an American-born

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

science journalist Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists and the public. Origins Modern science journalism originated in weather and other natural history obs ...

Early life and education

Calamai was born in

Berwick, Pennsylvania Berwick is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania and is located southwest of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre. As of the 2020 United States census, 202 ...

, the son of engineer Enrico Calamai and Jean Kennedy, and older brother to Michael and Paul. He moved to

Brantford, Ontario Brantford (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River (Ontario), Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by County of Brant, Brant County but is politically separate wi ...

as a child. He earned a Bachelor of Science in physics from

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

in 1965. While at McMaster, he was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, '' The Silhouette'', which won several national awards under his leadership.

Career

As a journalist, Calamai started as a local reporter at the ''

Brantford Expositor The ''Brantford Expositor'' is an English language newspaper based in Brantford, Ontario and owned by Postmedia. It provides the readers with coverage of local news, sports and events to the community as well as coverage of provincial, national ...

'', then ''

The Hamilton Spectator ''The Hamilton Spectator'', founded in 1846, is a newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. One of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation, ''The Hamilton Spectator'' is owned by Torstar. History ''The Ha ...

''. He joined Southam News in the early 1970s as a parliamentary specialist and foreign correspondent in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

, and

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, before joining the ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'' as an editorial pages editor in 1990. In 1996,

Conrad Black Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour (born 25 August 1944), is a Canadian-British writer and former politician, Publishing, newspaper publisher, Investor, financier, and Fraudster, convicted fraudster. Black's father was businessma ...

bought the ''Citizen'''s parent company, Southam, and shortly thereafter fired Calamai and his colleague, Jim Travers. From 1998 to 2008, Calamai was the chief science editor at the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

''. While at the ''Star'', he was the first science reporter invited aboard the CCGS ''Amundsen'', where he championed the importance of observing

Earth Hour Earth Hour is a worldwide movement organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature, World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The event is held annually, encouraging the individuals, communities, and businesses to give an hour for Earth, and additionally marked ...

and wrote a series debunking the claims of

climate change deniers Climate change denial (also global warming denial) is a form of science denial characterized by rejecting, refusing to acknowledge, disputing, or fighting the scientific consensus on climate change. Those promoting denial commonly use rhetori ...

. As an academic, he was a Southam Fellow at

Massey College Massey College is the postgraduate University of Toronto#Colleges, college of the University of Toronto located at the University of Toronto#St. George campus, St. George campus in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The college was established, built and ...

in 1982–83, the Max Bell chair at the

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchewan as a j ...

School of Journalism in 1985–86, and a visiting associate professor in 1997–98 and adjunct research professor since 2001 at the Carleton University School of Journalism and Communication, teaching as a sessional instructor and supervising numerous theses. He was a founding member of the Canadian Science Writers' Association, founding director of the

Science Media Centre of Canada The Science Media Centre of Canada (SMCC) is a non-profit organization that was formally opened on September 27, 2010. It has virtual offices. The purpose of the Centre is to serve journalists with accurate information on scientific matters. The ...

, Fellow of the

Canadian Association of Physicists Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP), or in French Association canadienne des physiciens et physiciennes (ACP) is a Canadian professional society that focuses on creating awareness among Canadians and Canadian legislators of physics issues, sp ...

, and Fellow of the

Institute for Science, Society and Policy The Institute for Science, Society and Policy (ISSP) is a multi-disciplinary unit at the University of Ottawa, Canada. It has a teaching, research and outreach mandate in the fields of science, technology and society. History The ISSP was foun ...

at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

. He also served as a member of advisory boards to

Environment Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; )Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment (). is the Ministry (government department), department ...

NSERC The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; , CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC directly funds university professors and students as ...

, and the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network.

Personal life

Calamai was an avid fan of Sherlock Holmes and was heavily involved with

The Bootmakers of Toronto The Bootmakers of Toronto are a literary society devoted to Sherlock Holmes and located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Formation A number of fans of Sherlock Holmes participate in groups where they discuss theories and minutiae about the Sherlock H ...

and

The Baker Street Irregulars The Baker Street Irregulars is an organization of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts founded in 1934 by Christopher Morley. As of 2015, the nonprofit organization had about 300 members worldwide. The group has published ''The Baker Street Journal,'' ...

, literary societies devoted to the fictional character. His other interests included

conchology Conchology, from Ancient Greek κόγχος (''kónkhos''), meaning "cockle (bivalve), cockle", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of mollus ...

(with a specialization in the

cowry Cowrie or cowry () is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails in the family Cypraeidae. Cowrie shells have held cultural, economic, and ornamental significance in various cultures. The cowrie was the shell most widely used wo ...

ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

, the genetic engineering of tomatoes,

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

. He died on January 22, 2019, at his home in

Stratford, Ontario Stratford is a city on the Avon River (Ontario), Avon River within Perth County, Ontario, Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2021 Canadian census, 2021 population of 33,232 in a land area of . Stratford is the County seat, s ...

, after a period of heart-related health problems.

Awards

Calamai won three

National Newspaper Awards The National Newspaper Awards () are prizes awarded annually for the best work in Canadian newspapers. Synopsis The awards were first given in 1949 by the Toronto Press Club, which ran the awards until 1989. They are now given by an independent ...

: in the Long Feature (William Southam Award; formerly Feature Writing) category in 1981, and in the Breaking News (formerly Spot News Reporting) category in 1984 and 1985. He won a

Michener Award The Michener Award is one of the highest distinctions in Canadian journalism. The award was founded in 1970 by Roland Michener, who was Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The m ...

in 1987 for public interest journalism for his work overseeing a massive investigation series on adult literacy in Canada. The next year, then

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...

officially launched the National Literacy Secretariat, and one year after that,

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

launched the first of its national literacy surveys. In 2008, he was awarded the

CAP A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

COMP Comp, COMP or Comps may refer to: Places In England: * Comp, Kent In France: * Comps, Drôme * Comps, Gard * Comps, Gironde * Comps-la-Grand-Ville * Comps-sur-Artuby Music *Accompaniment, especially in jazz ** Comping (jazz) *Compilatio ...

Peter Kirkby Memorial Medal for Outstanding Service to Canadian Physics, "for his exemplary communication of science to the public, for his dedication to the promotion of science through the media, and for his advocacy for science in Canada." The same year, he also received the Award for Distinguished Science Journalism in the Atmospheric and Related Sciences from the

American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is a scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic sciences. Its mission is to advance the atmosph ...

, " r a four-part series on Arctic atmospheric research that captures the complexity of the science and takes the reader on a descriptive journey to one of the remotest parts of the globe." In 2012, he received the

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal () or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession in 1952. There are four versions of the medal: one iss ...

. In 2014, he was named as a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

, before being invested in 2016, " r his achievements as a science journalist and for his contributions to the cause of literacy." He was inducted into the McMaster Alumni Gallery in 1982 and received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the university in 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calamai, Peter 1943 births 2019 deaths Academic staff of Carleton University Academic staff of the University of Regina American emigrants to Canada Canadian people of American descent Journalists from Ontario Journalists from Pennsylvania Massey College, Toronto people McMaster University alumni Members of the Order of Canada Ottawa Citizen people People from Berwick, Pennsylvania People from Brantford Canadian science journalists Toronto Star people