Richard Jarrell has long worked on comparative history of science (Britain, Ireland, Canada and Australia), focusing upon scientific and technical education and the role of the state in science. Founding editor of the journal Scientia Canadensis and co-founder of the Canadian Science and Technology Historical Association, he has co-edited six books on Canadian science, technology and medicine. As an historian of astronomy, he published The Cold Light of Dawn: A History ofCanadian Astronomy (University of Toronto, 1988), numerous articles, has completed a six-year stint on the editorial team of the Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers (Springer, 2007) and is now working on a study of Canadian radio astronomy.