That Time Canada Built a Space Cannon: The Gerald Bull Story

Engaging, thought provoking lectures by experts, professors and storytellers in Ottawa bars 📚Lecture: "That Time Canada Built a Space Cannon: The Gerald Bull Story" ⏱️Time: Doors: 6pm. Lecture: 7pm 🎤Speaker: Dr. Kiernan McClelland (Research Associate in the Department of Global Studies) This lecture explores the life and legacy of Dr. Gerald Bull, the controversial engineer whose lifelong ambition to launch objects into space using artillery bordered on obsession. Beginning with his Dickensian upbringing and his rise as a child prodigy, the lecture discusses the history of Project HARP and Bull’s leadership in the Canadian American effort to use enormous cannons to launch satellites into space at the dawn of the Space Age. It then traces the downward spiral that followed the project’s cancellation, as Bull’s determination to realize his vision increasingly drew him away from conventional research and engineering and into the controversial world of international arms development, culminating in his imprisonment and departure from Canada, his work for Saddam Hussein’s Project Babylon, and his eventual assassination in Belgium. The aim of this lecture is not only providing an overview of Bull’s fascinating life, but also to connect his story to contemporary conversations about Canadian space activities. More than a simple footnote in Canadian space history, Bull’s career provides a case study in ambition, innovation, government support, dual-use technology, and the challenges of developing and sustaining an independent launch capability. Looking back at Canada’s “space cannon”, the lecture asks what Bull’s successes and failures can teach us about Canada’s emerging launch industry today. Dr. Kiernan McClelland is a researcher and visiting scholar at Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico City where he teaches space diplomacy and space security. He has worked with the Canadian Space Agency, Transport Canada, and Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Meteorological Service, advising on Canada’s space programs, space policy and commercial space launch activities. His research and writing focus on Canadian and Latin American space programs and policy, and he is currently preparing to publish a book examining the history of political discourse surrounding Canada’s civil space program in the twentieth century. He holds a PhD in Political Science from Carleton University and a Master of Strategic Studies from the University of Calgary. 🍻Get a drink, connect and learn at Tipsy Scholars Agenda 6:00pm - Doors open: Grab a seat, order drinks and food and settle in. 6:55pm - Host Introduction 7:00pm - Lecture starts 7:45pm - Q&A with Audience 8:00pm - Socialize and make friends, grab drinks