Neptune calls on history, science, reading and technology, to seek out the greatest inventions of all time. The project is funded by Canadian Heritage and runs within the second-language curriculum of participating schools. This year, French immersion students at L’École de la Seigneurie in Blainville, and students in Anglais intensif at Allion Elementary School in LaSalle, climbed aboard Neptune’s shuttle to unleash their imagination, to invent and innovate. With the help of cartoonist Laurence Dea Dionne and multimedia artist Tara McGowan-Ross, our young participants came up with inventions to make life better and, ultimately, to save the world!
Five top-level astronomers and astrophysicists joined the project to encourage our budding scientists in their efforts and remind them how important it is to stay in school and master both official languages.
On this page you will find the videos of the scientists participating in the project as well as the Zine Neptune containing the fantastic inventions created by the students.
Official Neptune’s partner
Dear Future Scientists :
Laurie Rousseau-Nepton
Dear Future Scientists :
Lisa Dang
Dear Future Scientists :
Nathalie Ouellette
Dear Future Scientists :
Marie-Lou Gendron-Marsolais
The project’s end result is a zine made up of colored plates and sketches, in both languages, guaranteed to bring readers a breath of fresh air and optimism. As an educational project, it generated 380 hours of second-language workshops. But more than that, Neptune is a statement about what society should become by encouraging students to deal with eco-anxiety through empowerment and abording problem solving with a positive outlook.
WHO DID WHAT?
Test your knowledge with our special inventions quiz!
(In French)
Here’s a quiz game for the ever curious, ages 4 to 104! For those who like figuring out how things are made, who spend hours glued to science shows, and who treasure diving head first into a hefty nonfiction book. For fans of math and science who know all about Copernicus, Galileo, Nobel, Edison, Pasteur, Einstein ant their great discoveries. And for all those who dream of becoming an engineer, astronaut, chemist, or biologist. In short, a quiz game to have a blast while learning 1001 things!
THE PROJECT COLLABORATORS
LAURENCE DEA DIONNE
Laurence Dea Dionne shares their time between three loves: drawing, stories, and family. In their life, and through their works (among others: Nuances, Zen & the Ephemeral, and the Homeward series written by author Francis McNamee), this artist promotes bilingualism, a testament to their Montreal origin, in addition to wellness; most notably mental health and gender identity. Equipped with a bachelor’s degree in art education from Concordia University, Laurence teaches comics in the public system and in the community, sharing the magic of art and speaking to the importance of wellness throughout the world.
TARA McGOWAN-ROSS
Tara McGowan-Ross is an urban Mi’kmaw multidisciplinary artist. She is a graduate of the Concordia University philosophy and creative writing programs, the author of “Girth” and “Scorpion Season,” serves on the editorial boards of Goose Lane Editions’ Icehouse imprint and Insomniac Press and is the store manager at the Concordia Community Solidarity Co-Op Bookstore.
THE PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS
ALLION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Annie Claude Valois – Français langue seconde
Another year is on its way with many adventures ahead and Allion is looking forward to instilling a passion for learning in its students through nurturing and challenging the students socially, emotionally and academically. As a STEAM (Science, technology, engineering, art and math) school Allion is looking forward to the amazing projects and explorations this year throughout all the grade levels.
ÉCOLE DE LA SEIGNEURIE
Professeur : Isabelle Mapleston – Anglais intensif
Centrée sur le bien-être et la réussite de nos élèves, notre école est dynamique et notre personnel est engagé. Nous comptons également sur un apport important de nos bénévoles qui, par leur implication, apportent aux élèves un milieu de vie riche. Notre école se caractérise également par son plan de lutte contre la violence et l’intimidation, pierre angulaire de nos interventions quant au respect et au civisme.
THE SCIENTISTS
LISA DANG
Lisa is a PhD student at McGill University in Nick Cowan’s Research Group. She is studying exoplanets. Additionally, she is also a member of the McGill Space Institute (MSI) and Université of Montréal’s Institut de Recherche sur les Exoplanètes (iREx).
MARIE-MICHÈLE LIMOGES
Having paid for part of her studies by working as a guide at the Cosmodome, she then devoted her research for her Master’s degree and PhD to stellar astrophysics. Her passion for science is taking on its full meaning through communication and the programs she is building. At the present time, she is dedicating her efforts to creating scientific content, training the Cosmodome’s counsellors, holding talks for the general public and media representation in order to kindle the spark that will arouse scientific curiosity.
NATHALIE OUELLETTE
Nathalie Ouellette is an astrophysicist and an avid science communicator. Her research is on the formation and evolution of galaxies, particularly those found in groups and clusters such as the Virgo Cluster. Nathalie is currently the Coordinator of the iREx. She is also the Outreach Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency.
MARIE-LOU GENDRON-MARSOLAIS
Marie-Lou Gendron-Marsolais, is an ESO fellow based in Santiago, Chile with duties on ALMA. Her research focus on groups and clusters of galaxies, the largest gravitationally bound structures in our Universe. She is interested in the study of the interaction of the powerful jets launch by supermassive black holes in central galaxies with the intracluster medium (ICM).
LAURIE ROUSSEAU-NEPTON
Laurie Rousseau-Nepton is a resident astronomer at the Canada-France-Hawaii Observatory and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hawaii. First indigenous woman in Quebec to obtain a PhD in astrophysics, she received her diploma from Université Laval by studying regions of stellar formation in spiral galaxies using an imaging spectrograph. She consequently demonstrated the efficiency of SpIOMM and SITELLE imaging spectrograph for the detailed study of emission lines in spiral galaxies. Her expertise now allows her to train other researchers to use those tools. Laurie Rousseau-Nepton is presently a FRQNT postdoctoral scholarship recipient and was previously received the Hubert Reeves Fellowship and the Award for native women in sciences of the Association des femmes diplômées des universités du Québec.
READING RECOMMENDATION
FOR THE YOUNG
Homeward T.1: Discovery, by Laurence Dea Dionne and Francis McNamee, published by Laurence Dea Dionne Art, 2018
Homeward T.2: Exchange, by Laurence Dea Dionne and Francis McNamee, published by Laurence Dea Dionne Art, 2018
FOR ADULTS
Bewilderment, Richard Powers, Random House Canada, 2021
Homeward T.2: Exchange, by Laurence Dea Dionne and Francis McNamee, Blaze Island, Catherine Bush, Goose Lane Editions, 2020
Familiar Face, Michael Deforge, Drawn and Quarterly Publications, 2020
Hyperion, Dan Simons, Random House, 1990
Foundation, Isaac Asimov, Random House, 2008 (original publication date : 1991)
Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov, Random House, 2008 (original publication date : 1991)
Second Foundation, Isaac Asimov, Random House, 1991 (original publication date)
Foundation’s Edge, Isaac Asimov, Random House, 2020
Foundation and Earth, Isaac Asimov, Random House, 2020
Prelude to Foundation, Isaac Asimov, Random House, 2020
Forward the Foundation, Isaac Asimov, Random House, 2020
THANKS TO THE BLUE METROPOLIS FOUNDATION’S MAJOR PARTNERS WHO SUPPORT THE 2022 FESTIVAL AND OUR 2021-2022 EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL PROGRAMS
MERCI AUX PARTENAIRES MAJEURS DE LA FONDATION METROPOLIS BLEU QUI SOUTIENNENT LE FESTIVAL 2022 ET NOS PROGRAMMES ÉDUCATIFS ET SOCIAUX 2021-2022
