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ABOUT CSM :: History :: Start & Early Years
Start & Early Years
The Society came into being at a time of microbiological ferment some seventy
years after the microbiologists of the late 19th Century
created a similar level of ferment showing that the
microbial world is important. The interactions of new
understanding brought a need for consultation, cooperation,
and publication so specialized scientific societies were
founded and burgeoned over the 20th Century.
Scientific excitements 1945-1955
All with major consequences |
 Antibiotics
Technical Equipment (pH, Specs, etc)
Cell Biology
New Microscopy (Phase, EM)
Virus Biology
Microbial Genetics
DNA, the double-helix and the Code |
The 1930's brought changes and new areas of research and
development despite the rigors of the depression years,
e.g., increased awareness of bacterial physiology, the
cultivation of influenza virus, and the sulfonamides. After
1945, research activities accelerated remarkably due in part
to the stimulus from wartime and the solution of problems by
interdisciplinary cooperation. A remarkable decade,
1945-1955, resulted with a burgeoning of novel researches
and discoveries, to which we owe the present-day excitements
in molecular biology, and an infusion of young scientists of
varied backgrounds becoming aware of new biological fields
to conquer.
The first annual Meeting of the Society was held in Montreal in June 1952.
They started with the promising support of the 175 persons
who attended (including representation of seven provinces)
and a meeting that showed a profit of $20.00. From this
start we developed a formal membership of 182 by 1952 and of
380 by 1954. The prime objectives were encouraging
membership, finding a way to start a journal, and
organization of annual meetings. Incorporation of the
Society required evidence of a degree of maturity and secure
establishment, with a formally accepted constitution and a
set of by-laws. This was finally attained in 1958, which
marked the official year of foundation.
Annual Meeting, Guelph, 1953 |
What we gained from these early years was the experience of warm and friendly gatherings
with open and remarkably full discussions of high quality
papers. Our meetings were held from coast-to-coast even if
there were a few more in the central provinces than on the
east or west coasts. They were lively events with a "family"
feel to them, as there is still, and there was fun to be had
at the banquets and social events. From the beginning
Graduate Students and Post-doctoral Fellows were made
welcome and indeed, more then ever now, laboratories sent as
many as possible of their number to the meetings whether or
not they were to give a paper. Also it was important that
they could attend papers outside of their own specialties
because of great symposia and few concurrent sessions. In
fact, it was this "atmosphere" that had a lot to do with the
success of the Society and we should hold on to the elements
that encourage it. |
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