BLOG PAGE

  March 27, 2026

It has been 20 years since the Lumonics Kanata facility closed permanently. Recently, I had a visit from Gary B who told me his time working at Lumonics was the most fun of his career. He is retired now and living in Niagara-on-the-Lake. It is true. Lumonics was a good place to work.  I have a lot of photos from that time which I don't want to just disappear.  So I decided to put them all up on a web site so that others can see the photos of people they worked with at Lumonics Kanata over the years. Great people! Happy memories.

I certainly don't have anywhere near a complete set of photos. So anyone who has some good photos, please email me:    terry@lumonics.ca

____________________________________

March 27, 2026

As well as the photos, I thought to start a blog about what became of people after Lumonics.There are lots of stories so I will start here:

Of course, John H started Light Machinery in Ottawa which incorporates many of the products and technologies of Lumonics Optics Group (Interoptics) and lasers from Lumonics Kanata. Many people from Lumonics Kanata now work at Light Machinery.

Brian C is CEO and owner of B-Con Engineering in Ottawa which sells diamond machining equipment and diamond machined optics.

Ruth R was a Director at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and in charge of the silicon fab facility there.  Gary B also worked at NRC as a technician in the Optics Shop.  Both are retired now.

Landy T, a co-op student from U. Waterloo who worked with me in the apps lab, moved to the US and is Chief Technical Officer of three medical companies:  Autonomix,  DavosPharma, and Lifelense Technologies. 

I was Patent Officer for a laser company in Montreal for awhile and also do consulting for a surgeon in Vancouver.  But the most fun I had was doing half-day science presentations for grades 4 and 6 (Light and Astronomy respectively) with an organization called Scientists in School.  I did about 50 presentations per year. 

Anyone who has a contribution to add about what they did after Lumonics or even a story about something interesting or funny from their time at Lumonics, please send me an email so I can add it to this blog.  

Terry McKee        terry@lumonics.ca 

_____________________________________