Dalhousie on 'amazing' run, winning 3 $1M Herzberg medals in 4 years

Until this decade, no university in Atlantic Canada had won the prestigious $1-million Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering.NowHalifax's Dalhousie University has won three of the last four.

The most recent winner of the research prize, Jeff Dahn, was honoured earlier this week for his work extending the life of lithium batteries.

• Dalhousie University battery researcher JeffDahnwins award

"It's pretty amazing," Dahnsaid of Dalhousie's success in an interview Friday withCBC's Mainstreet.

The Herzberg medalrecognizesexcellence and influencein Canadian research that has substantially advancedscience or engineering.The award is presented by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).

Here's a rundown of Dalhousie'swinners and the research that earned them the prize. (There was no 2014 winner, and the award went to McGill University in 2016.)

2013

Who won?:W. Ford Doolittle,a professor emeritus of biochemistry and microbiology.

• N.S. biologist W. FordDoolittlewins $1MHerzbergMedal

What did he win for? Doolittle proposed that Charles Darwin's view of evolution as a "tree of life" isn't enough to explain two-thirds of life's history on earth, thanks to the ability of unrelated bacteria to trade genes. When Doolittlefirst published the ideain the journalSciencein 1999, he faced "heavy criticism," NSERCnoted,but the concept "is now accepted as one of the major forces driving microbial genome evolution, including the spread of antibiotic resistance and the spread of new pathogens."

2015

Who won?:Chemist AxelBecke.

• ChemistAxelBeckewins $1MHerzbergMedal

What did he win for?: Beckehelped make it practicalto predict and explore the chemistry of complex molecules, such as proteins, using computers. The computer-modelling techniques developed by Becke over three decades are now being used for a huge range of applications, from discovering drugs to developing nanotechnology to designing materials for use in clean energy technology.

2017

Who won?: Battery researcherJeff Dahn.

• Tesla announces5-year lithium ion research deal with Dalhousie

What did he win for?: The work at the Dalhousie's Dahn Lab, which NSERC said has "had an impact on nearly every aspect of lithium-ion battery research." The focus of the researchis threefold:increasing the lifetime of cells;helping to reduce cost of cells; andincreasing the energy density of the battery. Dahn and his team havealready played a large part in making these batteries more efficient. Working now in collaboration with electric car company Tesla, Dahn aimsto make a battery that will last 30 years.