Acclaimed philosopher and researcher, Nicholas Griffin, has been named McMaster University Library’s new Scholar in Residence.

Griffin, a former Canada Research Chair in Philosophy, professor emeritus, and long-time director of the Bertrand Russell Research Centre, assumed the honorary, five-year position in August following his retirement from McMaster’s Department of Philosophy earlier this year.

Your Deal, My Lovely. Death Be My Destiny. In Passion’s Fiery Pit.

While they may not be familiar to readers today, these titles and tens of thousands like them were among the top-selling novels of the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

Known as “pulp-fiction,” for the low-grade quality of the paper they were printed on, these colourful paperbacks became a pop culture phenomenon, enticing readers with racy cover-art, sensationalistic titles and story lines, and a low price tag – around 25 cents a pop – making them both irresistible and, for the first time, affordable to mass audiences.

No other figure has left so indelible an imprint on McMaster as Henry Thode.

An internationally celebrated geochemist and nuclear scientist, and president of McMaster from 1961-1972, Thode set in motion an unprecedented era of expansion that helped transform McMaster from a small Baptist university into an international research and teaching powerhouse, now ranked among the best universities in the world.

A giant floor map designed to help foster understanding of Indigenous history and perspectives is now on display in the McMaster University Students Centre (MUSC).

On June 6, 1944 – 75 years ago this week – nearly 150,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, marking the beginning of a bloody campaign that would eventually free Western Europe from the grip of Nazi occupation.

Operation Overlord, as it was known, was a massive undertaking. The largest sea invasion in history, it was two years in the making and required meticulous strategic and logistical planning, informed in large part by millions of maps – weapons of war in their own right – which proved to be critical to the success of the D-Day landings.

The North American fur trade. It was the vast commercial enterprise that, beginning in the 17th century, lay the economic, geographic, and cultural foundations of what would become Canada.

Over the course of centuries, it gave rise to storied and enduring institutions such as the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company, and was presided over by titans of the trade like Simon Fraser, Joseph Frobisher and James McGill – names that remain familiar to many Canadians.

Galileo Galilei. Leonardo da Vinci. Sir Isaac Newton. Émilie du Châtelet. These towering figures are among the most influential scientific, mathematical and engineering minds of the past 400 years, each producing monumentally important writings that changed the course of human history.

He was one of music’s earliest superstars. Polish-born composer and piano virtuoso Fryderyk Chopin, was renowned in the 19th century for his deeply expressive, poetic music and his famously high-profile love life, making him a quintessential symbol of the Romantic era.

Though he died at the age of 39, Chopin left behind a towering musical legacy – one that continues to inspire performers and captivate audiences more than 170 years after his death.

For as long as he can remember, McMaster alumnus and iSci graduate, Alexander Young has had two passions; art and science. For many years, he saw them as opposites, believing that science would always have to come first.

Then, while preparing to apply to veterinary school, he came up with a back-up plan – if all else failed, he would apply to a specialized master’s program in medical illustration.

From March 4–8, McMaster University Library is celebrating Open Education Week, a global event to raise awareness about how Open Educational Resources (OER) can help make education more affordable and accessible to learners world-wide.

OER include teaching, learning and research resources, such as textbooks, assignments, modules, and syllabi that are freely accessible, openly licensed and can be used, shared, or repurposed by anyone, anywhere – free of cost, technical, or legal barriers.