Special Collections & Archives (SCA) is sad to announce that Lydia Dotto passed away on September 17, 2022.
Dotto learning to dive and earning scuba certification in the Bahamas prior to diving in the Arctic in May 1974
Lydia Dotto was a renowned science journalist. During her professional life, she wrote about general science, Climate Change and nature, and Canada in Space. Dotto started her career as a general science journalist for the Edmonton Journal, the Toronto Star, and The Globe and Mail, but she soon became a freelance science and environmental journalist and writer. She was a partner at Dotto and Schiff Science News Service, co-director of Canadian Science News, and president of the Canadian Science Writers Association. Dotto also worked as a teacher and a wildlife photographer.
Lydia Dotto with King Penguins in Gold Harbor, South Georgia Islands, Antarctica
SCA was fortunate to work with Lydia Dotto and include her materials in our collections. The Lydia Dotto fonds is available for research and use through SCA Archives Database. In it, researchers will be able to explore the life and work of a passionate environmentalist that devoted her life to learning about the world—and beyond—and sharing that knowledge with others.
Lydia Dotto aboard NASA’s KC-135 aircraft (known as "The Vomit Comet") used to train astronauts for working in microgravity
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The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is co-ordinated within the Office of Indigenous Relations.