The Most Famous

ASTRONOMERS from Canada

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This page contains a list of the greatest Canadian Astronomers. The pantheon dataset contains 644 Astronomers, 11 of which were born in Canada. This makes Canada the birth place of the 10th most number of Astronomers behind Russia, and Poland.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Canadian Astronomers of all time. This list of famous Canadian Astronomers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Canadian Astronomers.

Photo of Arthur B. McDonald

1. Arthur B. McDonald (b. 1943)

With an HPI of 69.47, Arthur B. McDonald is the most famous Canadian Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 65 different languages on wikipedia.

Arthur Bruce McDonald P.Eng (born August 29, 1943) is a Canadian astrophysicist. McDonald is the director of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Collaboration and held the Gordon and Patricia Gray Chair in Particle Astrophysics at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario from 2006 to 2013. He was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Japanese physicist Takaaki Kajita.

Photo of James Craig Watson

2. James Craig Watson (1838 - 1880)

With an HPI of 65.02, James Craig Watson is the 2nd most famous Canadian Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

James Craig Watson (January 28, 1838 – November 23, 1880) was a Canadian-American astronomer, discoverer of comets and minor planets, director of the University of Michigan's Detroit Observatory in Ann Arbor, and awarded with the Lalande Prize in 1869.

Photo of Hubert Reeves

3. Hubert Reeves (1932 - 2023)

With an HPI of 60.06, Hubert Reeves is the 3rd most famous Canadian Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Hubert Reeves (July 13, 1932 – October 13, 2023) was a Canadian astrophysicist and popularizer of science.

Photo of David H. Levy

4. David H. Levy (b. 1948)

With an HPI of 58.34, David H. Levy is the 4th most famous Canadian Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

David Howard (Doveed) Levy (born May 22, 1948) is a Canadian amateur astronomer, science writer and discoverer of comets and minor planets, who co-discovered Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 in 1993, which collided with the planet Jupiter in 1994.

Photo of Carlyle S. Beals

5. Carlyle S. Beals (1899 - 1979)

With an HPI of 57.50, Carlyle S. Beals is the 5th most famous Canadian Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Carlyle Smith Beals, FRS (June 29, 1899 – July 2, 1979) was a Canadian astronomer.

Photo of John Stanley Plaskett

6. John Stanley Plaskett (1865 - 1941)

With an HPI of 54.11, John Stanley Plaskett is the 6th most famous Canadian Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

John Stanley Plaskett (November 17, 1865 – October 17, 1941) was a Canadian astronomer.

Photo of Wendy Freedman

7. Wendy Freedman (b. 1957)

With an HPI of 49.55, Wendy Freedman is the 7th most famous Canadian Astronomer.  Her biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Wendy Laurel Freedman (born July 17, 1957) is a Canadian-American astronomer, best known for her measurement of the Hubble constant, and as director of the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California, and Las Campanas, Chile. She is now the John & Marion Sullivan University Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. Her principal research interests are in observational cosmology, focusing on measuring both the current and past expansion rates of the universe, and on understanding if there is missing physics in the standard (Lambda Cold Dark Matter) cosmological model. In 2025, Time magazine listed her as one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Photo of Brett J. Gladman

8. Brett J. Gladman (b. 1966)

With an HPI of 46.96, Brett J. Gladman is the 8th most famous Canadian Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Brett James Gladman (born April 19, 1966) is a Canadian astronomer and a full professor at the University of British Columbia's Department of Physics and Astronomy in Vancouver, British Columbia. He holds the Canada Research Chair in planetary astronomy. He does both theoretical work (large-scale numerical simulations of planetary dynamics) and observational optical astronomy (being a discoverer of many planetary moons and minor planets).

Photo of Sara Seager

9. Sara Seager (b. 1971)

With an HPI of 46.43, Sara Seager is the 9th most famous Canadian Astronomer.  Her biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Sara Seager (born 21 July 1971) is a Canadian-American astronomer and planetary scientist. She is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, though she will return to her alma mater the University of Toronto to join the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) as North Star Distinguished Professor, starting September 1, 2026. Seager is known for her work on extrasolar planets and their atmospheres. She is the author of two textbooks on these topics, and has been recognized for her research by Popular Science, Discover Magazine, Nature, and TIME Magazine. Seager was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2013 citing her theoretical work on detecting chemical signatures on exoplanet atmospheres and developing low-cost space observatories to observe planetary transits.

Photo of Dale Frail

10. Dale Frail (b. 1961)

With an HPI of 46.04, Dale Frail is the 10th most famous Canadian Astronomer.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Dale A. Frail (b. 1961) is a Canadian astronomer working at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Socorro, New Mexico.

People

Pantheon has 13 people classified as Canadian astronomers born between 1838 and 1971. Of these 13, 9 (69.23%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Canadian astronomers include Arthur B. McDonald, David H. Levy, and Wendy Freedman. The most famous deceased Canadian astronomers include James Craig Watson, Hubert Reeves, and Carlyle S. Beals. As of April 2024, 2 new Canadian astronomers have been added to Pantheon including John J. Kavelaars, and Austin Mardon.

Living Canadian Astronomers

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Deceased Canadian Astronomers

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Newly Added Canadian Astronomers (2025)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Astronomers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 4 most globally memorable Astronomers since 1700.