2005-11-18 - Québec City, Don Murray, Vice-President and General Manager of ABB, Analytical Business, and the company's 220 employees are proud to announce that Dr. Henry Buijs has won the prestigious Lionel-Boulet award.
Claude Béchard, Minister for Economic Development, Innovation and Exports, presented Mr. Buijs with the award at the Prix du Québec award ceremony yesterday afternoon at the National Assembly.
The prize is the provincial government’s highest honour in the field of industrial research and development. The Lionel-Boulet award is given to a researcher who has excelled through inventions, scientific and technological innovations, leadership in scientific development, and contribution to the economic growth of Quebec.
A passion for engineering physics
Back in the 1970s, Dr. Henry Buijs was one of the first engineering physicists to develop the technology for measuring the exact state of the ozone layer. His major scientific contributions include the refinement of calculation methods in the field of spectrometry that led to the creation of highly sophisticated measuring instruments. In 1973, based on his leading-edge innovations, he and two colleagues founded Bomem, now a part of ABB, and one of the bright lights of high technology in the Quebec City area. The company boasts annual sales of over $45 M and 95% of its products are destined for Europe, the United States and Asia.
Born in Holland, Henry Buijs immigrated to Canada in 1954 at the age of 15. On his arrival in Toronto, he put his mechanical drafting training to use in his father’s business. With this technical and business experience behind him, he decided to take up engineering physics at the University of Toronto. He went on to pursue post-graduate studies at the University of British Columbia in 1969.
During the 1970s, after working as a post-doctoral researcher and professor at Laval University, Henry Buijs founded Bomem with two associates, to market the results of his research in Fourier transform infrared spectrometry. As manager of marketing and promotions for Bomem’s products, Buijs established business relationships and broke into the market for scientific research spectrometers, earning a solid international reputation for the company.
In the 1980s, the company took on the industry applications market, with the large-scale production of spectrometers to meet specific needs. Currently the device developed by Henry Buijs and his team is crucial to the quality control process in fields as varied as milk processing, pulp and paper, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and semi-conductors. ABB is also a world standard in satellite spectrometry.
Now senior technical director of ABB, Henry Buijs is the last remaining founder and the lynchpin of the company. The company is currently developing the satellite spectrometers that will be used in upper atmosphere study missions, to verify compliance with the Kyoto Accord, and in weather satellites. ABB is the only Quebec company with the capacity to manufacture the equipment that meets the needs of the aerospace industry. Its partners include important industrial organizations such as the Canadian Space Agency, NASA, the ESA and the Japanese Space Agency.
Buijs’ engineering physics skills and extraordinary accomplishments have already been recognized in Canada and the United States. The Canadian Spectrometry Society awarded him the Barringer Research Award in 1978, and in 1998 he was presented with the Williams-Wright Award by the Coblentz Society.
Les Prix du Québec
Les Prix du Québec are awarded every year to honour scientists who have distinguished themselves through a remarkable career or to crown a career dedicated to research management and development or the promotion of science and technology.
The awards are the highest distinction bestowed by the Quebec government to express public appreciation for those who contribute to the social and scientific advancement of the province. Each of the laureates receives a non-taxable prize of $30,000, a silver medal created by a Quebec artist, a hand-lettered parchment certificate and a lapel pin bearing the symbol of the Prix du Québec, a piece of jewellery worn exclusively by Prix laureates.
ABB
ABB, Analytical Business designs, manufactures and markets high-performance FT Mid-IR/Near-IR analytical system solutions and spectroradiometers for the petroleum, chemical, life science, and remote sensing/aerospace markets. The business unit also markets analyzers that detect the presence of hydrogen and inclusions in molten aluminium. The company employs over 200 experts in its Quebec City facility.
ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. In Canada, ABB employs 2,100 employees in 25 locations from coast to coast.