John Coleman Laidlaw is distinguished for his many contributions to understanding of adrenal cortical function in health and disease. He was among the pioneers that developed quantitative methods of assessing adrenal cortical function while still a post-doctoral student. As an independent investigator, he has described the changes in production, disposition and biological activity of the major adrenal cortical hormones. Then focusing on the role of aldosterone in hypertension, he described two clinical syndromes which mimic Conn's syndrome but which are not associated with a solitary adrenal cortical adenoma, In his most recent work, he has developed a cell culture technique for studying the regulation of hormone production by adrenal cortical cells. Throughout his career he has served as a bridge between clinical medicine and laboratory investigation.

François Lalonde est un des leaders internationaux de la géométrie et de la topologie symplectiques modernes. Ses contributions fondamentales, qui se situent à la frontière de la géométrie différentielle, de la topologie, et de la physique classique et quantique, ont permis de comprendre certaines des relations profondes qui lient les méthodes dynamiques de la physique aux méthodes topologiques et holomorphes de la géométrie des espaces complexes. Parmi ses principaux résultats, obtenus seul ou en collaboration, citons en particulier la solution de la conjecture de J.H.C. Whitehead sur la topologie différentielle des variétés différentiables; le premier traitement rigoureux du cadre mathématique de la mécanique des fluides (géométrie de Hofer); ainsi que la première classification complète d'une famille d'espaces symplectiques de dimension 4 (Ies variétés symplectiques 'réglées'). Ses principaux collaborateurs sont D. McDuff (FRS), L. Polterovich (Lauréat du Prix Européen de Mathématiques 1996) et J.C. Sikorav (Directeur de recherches au CNRS). Ces résultats, et plusieurs autres de nature plus technique, reposent sur une forte intuition mathématique, une solide culture scientifique et une façon originale d'allier plusieurs méthodes mathématiques puissantes qui proviennent soit de la tradition des mathématiques pures, soit des découvertes récentes de la théorie quantique des champs.

Peter Lancaster is a leading world expert in Matrix and Operator Theory and he has made fundamental contributions in these fields, as illustrated, for example, by his work on the divisibility of matrix polynomials. Much of his work was motivated by concrete applied problems requiring a numerical answer and many of the techniques he has developed are directly applicable to such problems. As a former President of the Canadian Mathematical Society, he did a great deal to encourage and strengthen applied mathematical research in this country.

R.P. Laliglands' work extends over several fields: group representations, automorphic functions and number theory. All of it is of remarkable depth and offers fundamental contributions of lasting value to these difficult subjects, has opened up a vast programme whose realization would perhaps take several decades, and has already been influential outside its proper domain. His great originality, extraordinary power, tremendous tenacity and bold imagination have lead the mathematical world to regard him as one of a very small number of really outstanding mathematicians in his generation, and have great respect and hopes for his future. He is Professor, Department of Mathematics at Yale University.

Philip A. Lapp's contributions to aeronautical, aerospace and communications science and technology have played a very significant part in Canada's aerospace industry. Noteworthy have been the design and production of the spaceframe and mechanical components of Alouette 1 and 2, and Isis 1 and 2, and, under his direction, the development of the highly innovative extendible antennas (STEM) which are now standard equipment in most communications satellites. During the past few years he has headed several important and successful study groups and task forces in the fields of nuclear power, remote sensing and mapping, engineering education, engineering manpower, and information systems.

Donald S. Layne has achieved international recognition for research recorded in more than 60 papers and 4 review chapters. His doctoral thesis characterized the steroids of avian species and opened the way for work on the control of egg-laying. Post-doctoral work included the identification of a key intermediate of estrogen metabolism and the first evidence of a plasma binding protein for aldosterone. He initiated studies of the metabolism of 19-norsteroids and is regarded as an authority on contraceptive steroids. Recent work has established the importance of glycoside conjugates of steroid hormones, including N-acetyl glucosaminides, which are of toxicological interest. Donald Layne is an accomplished teacher and administrator and has given generously of his professional talents to his colleagues and his country.

Depuis plus de 20 ans et ce, sur une base continue, André Lecours a su contribuer de façon remarquable à l'avancement des connaissances en ce qui a trait à la représentation cérébrale du langage et des effets des lésions cérébrales acquises en tant que source de l'aphasie. Directeur du Centre de recherche Côte-des-Neiges, titulaire de la chaire de gériatrie et professeur titulaire à la Faculté de Médecine de l'Université de Montréal, André Roch Lecours a poursuivi ses remarquables travaux aux confins de la neurologie, de la linguistique et de la psychologie. Il a su intégrer ces diverses disciplines, afin d'aborder l'un des aspects les plus complexes du fonctionnement cérébral, soit le langage. En catalysant les forces vives des linguistes, des neurologues, des neuro-psychologues et des orthophonistes, membres de ses groupes de recherche, André Lecours a non seulement été à l'origine de percées scientifiques importantes relativement aux bases neuro-biologiques du langage, mais il a pu aussi aider de nombreux malades atteints d'aphasie. Ses contributions exceptionnelles aux connaissances d'une des fonctions cérébrales les plus propres à l'homme en font un candidat de premier choix pour l'Académie des Sciences de la Société Royale.

Geoffrey Bosdin Leech is a Cordilleran geologist on the staff of the Geological Survey of Canada. He is noted for a breadth of interests which embraces virtually all the sciences that contribute to modern geology. His reports reflect mature comprehension of such diverse disciplines as palaeontology, structure, sedimentation, mineralogy, geochemistry, and isotope geology. Conclusions based on penetrating and balanced interpretation of all these aspects of geology are earning for Dr. Leech a reputation as a thorough and philosophical scientist. HIs keen interest in the history of Western Canada gives promise of contributions to the Society in the field of the humanities as well as in geology.

Pierre Legendre, professeur à l'Université de Montréal, est connu sur la scène internationale pour avoir contribué à la création d'une nouvelle discipline scientifique, l'écologie numérique. Au cours de la dernière décennie, l'écologie s'est progressivement donnée un cadre mathématique qui lui a permis de progresser en tant que science exacte, d'être appliquée de façon opérationnelle à la solution de problèmes environnementaux, d'échanger de l'information avec les autres disciplines scientifiques.

Dr. Lehmann has had probably more sustained experience of hospital psychiatry than any other psychiatrist in the Americas. He initiated the clinical investigation of chlorpromazine in this continent and his work has been largely the foundation of the revolution in psychiatric treatment and in the structure and function of mental hospitals. For 15 years Dr. Lehmann has led in the methodology of objective and quantitative experimental studies of pschotropic drugs in relation to their physiological, psychological, and behavioural effects. He and his collaborators were awarded the McNeil Award for the best paper at the 1969 meeting of the Canadian Psychiatric Association. Dr. Lehmann has served as Visiting Professor at many universities in the U.S.A. and Canada and takes active part in public discussions on methodological problems of psychiatric disorders. He is a former President of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and currently President of Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmacoligicum, a member of the NIMH Study Group to evaluate U.S. research grant applications, Membre de la Conseil des Recherches Médicales de Québec and member of the federal commission of inquiry into the non-medical use of drugs.

Claude Leroy is an accomplished physicist of high calibre and plays a strong role in the training and development of young physicists in Quebec and in Canada generally. He has been involved in important experiments in low-energy, intermediate-energy and high-energy nuclear and particle physics. He has contributed in an important way in Electro-weak Interactions (including second-class currents, conservation of electron and muon numbers); Strong Interactions (including heavy-flavour production, diffraction and search for the Quark Gluon Plasma) and Calorimetry (he built the first calorimeter using silicon as a medium). He has lead the HELIOS Experiment Group at CERN responsible for the operation and physics analysis of the data from the calorimeter detectors system. He was one of a group of three leading this experiment which involved 22 institutes around the world and some 140 physicists in all. After completion of the HELIOS experiment, he joined the OPAL experiment at CERN as initiator of the building and development of the silicon microvertex detector used for charm and beauty physics. He was awarded a Killam Research Fellowship (1993-1995) based on a project centered on the ATLAS experiment (search for the Higgs particle(s) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN). This award combined with a sabbatical year (1996) allowed him to work at CERN on the preparation of the ATLAS project and on silicon detector studies. He is now the responsible of the ATLAS collaboration (involving about 2,000 physicists, engineers and technicians from around the world) for the radiation studies. He is leading this effort mainly at CERN, Prague and Dubna. He is also responsible of a program of semiconductor studies (silicon, diamond and GaAs) at CERN and Prague, in view of their application in high energy physics, in medical field and in space.